Barratt Developments chair John Allan has been told by the board to step down earlier than planned, as allegations against him continue to mount.
In a statement this morning, the housebuilder said it decided to “accelerate the planned transition… to prevent the ongoing impact of the allegations against John from becoming disruptive to the company”.
It comes after Allan announced last week that he would step down as chair of Tesco at the supermarket’s annual meeting on 16 June.
Four allegations about Allan have emerged during an investigation into the Confederation of British Industry. Allan was president of the CBI between 2018 and 2020 and vice-president until October 2021. He has been accused of touching the bottoms of co-workers while at the CBI and Tesco and of making offensive comments. He has denied three of the four claims.
Allan will cease to be chair and a director of Barratt on 30 June. He will be replaced as chair by Caroline Silver, whose appointment was announced in January.
Silver, former managing director at Moelis & Co and a Tesco board member, was originally set to join Barratt as a non-executive director and chair designate on 1 June, becoming chair on 6 September 2023.
She will now start in the role on 30 June.
Barratt said it had not received any complaints about Allan during his tenure at the company, where he has been chair for the past nine years.
However, it added: “The board believes it is in the best interests of Barratt to accelerate the planned transition to the new chair of the board to prevent the ongoing impact of the allegations against John from becoming disruptive to the company.”
Tesco board member Byron Grote, who will temporarily replace Allan as the supermarket chair, said: “These allegations risk becoming a distraction to Tesco”.
The supermarket said it had made “no findings of wrongdoing”.
Barratt senior independent director Jock Lennox said: “The board is grateful to John for his nine years of service to Barratt. He leaves the company in a strong financial and operational position, continuing to perform well in challenging market conditions.”
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