This week’s ‘Holding to Account’ session

Since 1919 the John Lewis Partnership’s Chairman has attended sessions with the Partnership Council to reflect on the performance of the Partnership. As an employee-owned business, this is a routine but important feature of the democratic process. The Partnership does not have external shareholders. The Chairman is accountable to Partners through their elected Council representatives. ‘Holding to Account’ as it is called, happens twice a year - after the half year and full year trading periods. 

As part of Holding to Account, the Council typically holds a vote as an expression of its opinion. The vote is not binding and has evolved over time. Before 2010, the Council’s  vote was purely to accept the Chairman’s report to Council on the Partnership’s performance. Since 2010, the vote has evolved. For the last Holding to Account (10 May) there were two votes - one expressing opinion on last year’s trading performance and the second expressing opinion in respect of the Plan to take the Partnership forward. The votes were made on a sliding scale (from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ and intermediate points). 

The votes were as follows.  The Council did not support last year’s performance, in which the Partnership reported a full year loss and no Partner Bonus. Performance was substantially affected by inflation, which weakened consumer spending and increased the Partnership’s costs. The Council indicated strong support for the leadership of the Partnership by the Chairman going forward. The Partnership Plan, now in its third year, sets out a clear path back to profitability having been adapted to target greater business efficiencies.  

The Council, Chairman and Board will continue to work together to ensure the long-term success of the Partnership and our employee-owned model.

Proposal 1: This Council has confidence in the progress of the Partnership under the Chairman’s leadership over the past year, in relation to the Purpose, Principles and Rules laid out in the Constitution.

Proposal 2: This Council supports the Chairman to progress the Partnership under their leadership, in relation to the Purpose, Principles and Rules laid out in the Constitution.