Partnership Council

The Partnership Council embodies our democratic structure. Representing Partners as a whole most of its members are elected by Partners. Its main role is to hold our management to account, to influence policy and to make key governance decisions.
Partnership Council
Partnership Council

Partnership Council has the power to discuss, to ask questions, and to make recommendations on any subject and elects five directors to the Partnership board.

The Council has the ultimate power of dismissing the Chairman if he fails to fulfil his responsibilities. The Council has an important role in influencing Partnership policy and how our profits are spent, particularly on things that affect Partners directly, like pay, pensions and discount policies.

The Chairman appears before the Council twice a year to report and answer questions on his running of the Partnership.

Trustees of the Constitution

One of the Partnership Council's duties is to elect three Trustees of the Constitution. They are responsible for deciding the constituencies for Council elections and for ensuring the elections are fair and that the ballot is secret.

The Trustees also act as Directors of John Lewis Partnership Trust Ltd, the legal entity that holds the company shares in trust for the Partners and officially appoints the Chairman and distributes the Partnership bonus. The Chairman and members of the Chairman's Management Committee can not be Trustees of the Constitution.

Members and elections

The Trustees divide the Partnership up into constituencies, and new constituencies are created as and when necessary, when shops are opened or closed.

Elections

Each constituency usually elects one Partner as its Council member (Partnership Councillor). Any Partner who is entitled to vote may stand for election in one constituency only, proposed and seconded by other Partners entitled to vote in that constituency. Council elections are held every three years by secret ballot, and every Partner has a single vote, except Partners appointed to the Council by the Chairman.

President

The Council elects one of its members to be President. Anyone may be elected President except the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, the Director of Communications and the Managing Editor of the Gazette , the Partnerships weekly in-house magazine.

Chairman's appointments

The Chairman may appoint holders of particular Partnership posts to the Council. Currently this is the Director of Communications, Director of Legal Affairs and Director, Partnership Services. The aim of these appointments is to make sure that the Council benefits from the full participation of senior management and that it has access to specialist knowledge.

Council meetings

The Council meets at least four times a year, but may also meet whenever it wishes, and when the Chairman or the Trustees of the Constitution ask it to meet.

Any Partner who is free to do so may attend any meeting of the Partnership Council, unless the Council rules otherwise for a particular occasion. People who are not Partners may attend only with the President's permission.

Introduction to Partnership Council video

This short film has been produced as an introduction to the work of the Partnership Council.

The Partnership Council, along with the Chairman and the Partnership Board is one of the three governing authorities of our business. We hope the film gives a flavour of the Council's threefold role i.e. holding the Chairman to account; influencing policy and making key governance decisions. It also provides an insight into the Partnership Councillor's role by following three serving Councillors.

Watch the Introduction to Partnership Council video (8:11 minutes).
Watch the Introduction to Partnership Council video with subtitles (8:11 minutes).

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