A Parliamentary inquiry in the UK has found that staff at Sports Direct are ‘not treated as humans’ and that owner Mike Ashley has been running the business like a “Victorian workhouse.”

A report by the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee states that Mike Ashley, Deputy Executive Chairman, founder of, and majority shareholder in Sports Direct must be held accountable for the appalling working conditions and practices at the retailer’s shops and at the Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire.

The BIS report described the firm’s working practices and business model as a disturbing picture. Other evidence pointed to serious health and safety breaches, with repeated ambulance calls to the Shirebrook warehouse including in one case for a woman who gave birth in the toilet.

"Whistleblowers, parts of the media and a trade union shone a light on work practices at Sports Direct and what they revealed was extremely disturbing,” Iain Wright MP, Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, said. “The evidence we heard points to a business whose working practices are closer to that of a Victorian workhouse than that of a modern, reputable High Street retailer. For this to occur in the UK in 2016 is a serious indictment of the management at Sports Direct and Mike Ashley, as the face of Sports Direct, must be held accountable for these failings.

The workers at Sports Direct’s warehouse in Shirebrook are not directly employed by Sports Direct, but employed by two agencies, The Best Connection and Transline Group. The Committee found in its report that the employer/worker relationship is not straightforward under these arrangements.

Sports Direct appears to exert a strong grip over these agencies, but the agencies take on the responsibility of employing the workers, providing them with poor terms and conditions, and paying them rates which at times have fallen below the minimum wage rate.

The report also raises concern about the legality and fairness of the voluntary schemes employed by these agencies, such as pre-paid debit cards and insurance services, and calls on the Gangmasters Licensing Authority look into these practices. 

"The business model as operated by Sports Direct, both at the Shirebrook warehouse and in the shops across the country, involves treating workers as commodities rather human beings,” Wright said. “Low cost products for customers, and profits for shareholders come at the cost of maintaining contractual terms and working conditions which fall way below acceptable standards in a modern, civilised economy. This model has proved successful for Mr. Ashley and there is a risk this will become much more the norm in Britain.”

“A modern and developed economy focused on innovation and supporting entrepreneurialism and enterprise cannot be allowed to operate like this,” Wright said. “We were also disgusted at the poor evidence given by the agency companies, who deduct money from low-paid workers without proper explanation and justification. As a Committee, we will want to consider the full implications of this type of business model in a future inquiry."

The report also condemns Sports Direct’s decision to pay £50 million to The Best Connection and Transline when “these agencies do not seem to have a basic understanding of employment law and practices.”

The Best Connection has a network of 80 branches throughout the UK where it supplies temporary labour to the industrial, HGV, retail and warehouse & distribution sectors and has annual revenue in excess of £300 million. The company is a member of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). REC has not commented on the report.

The parliamentary report finds that the representatives of these agencies gave woefully poor and, in some cases, incorrect evidence. The report highlights statements made by Transline about its practices to the BIS Committee which have subsequently been shown to be false by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

The Committee believes that Transline, with annual revenues in excess of £180 million and who’s website boasts of ‘recruitment expertise and an unrivalled level of service’ deliberately misled in their evidence and recommends they clarify any potentially misleading evidence they gave to the Committee as a matter of urgency.  

Transline operates from more than 100 sites across the UK, Ireland, Eastern Europe, Canada, Thailand and Dubai.

The Committee has stated that it will accept Ashley’s invitation to visit Shirebrook.

Sports Direct has previously come under criticism for allegations of paying workers below minimum wage and for use of zero hours contracts.