Sir Shifty’s £2m bonus for key staff as BHS collapsed

SIR Philip Green paid £2million to key employees at BHS headquarters as the retailer went into administration, it has been revealed.

Sources close to the tycoon, dubbed Sir Shifty by critics, said he had agreed to help after being asked for the cash by Darren Topp, then chief executive of BHS, and the retailer’s administrators Duff & Phelps.

The money, which was called a ‘Philip bonus’ by bosses, was shared among around 200 staff, from leading executives to buyers and receptionists. They learned of the payment on the same day that 11,000 staff were told they would lose their jobs.

The revelations would be a blow to those shop floor workers who received nothing and faced swingeing cuts to their pension, one MP said last night.

Richard Fuller, a Tory member of the Commons committee which investigated the downfall of BHS, said: ‘This payment does look odd. Anyone at BHS who has given years of loyal service and been left high and dry by Sir Philip will take this as a slap in the face, and a sign that their work did not matter while the work of executives at HQ did.’

A spokesman for the tycoon said the payments were ‘retention bonuses’ which were offered to persuade staff to stay as they looked for a buyer.

According to an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama programme, the staff received the money only after no buyer was found. They were told they would lose their bonus if BHS was sold or if they left the company. The cash came from Sir Philip’s Arcadia group, which owns Topshop and Dorothy Perkins and used to own BHS. There was no obligation for him to give any money to BHS staff, as it was more than a year since he had sold the chain for £1 to three-times bankrupt former racing driver Dominic Chappell.

The sale proved to be a disaster as the 88year-old chain plunged into administration. The final stores closed in August, with the loss of 11,000 jobs.

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