LUSH has issued an apology to trans people and allies for “some past mistakes in our choice of donation recipients”.

The Poole-based cosmetics company was questioned in recent days following reports about two groups the business had donated to through its Charity Pot initiative.

Lush UK issued a lengthy statement on November 30 in response to “some concerns on social media about some historic donations” to Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) and FiLiA.

A £3,000 grant was given to WPUK, a group which was set up in September 2017 to “ensure women’s voices were heard in the Westminster and Scottish Government consultations on proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act”. Details on this grant were published in a financial statement on WPUK’s website.

FiLiA’s website says the group’s vision is “a world free from patriarchy where all women and girls are liberated”.

Lush was questioned over its financial support to both groups by people on social media.

In a further statement on December 1, Lush UK said: “The statement of November was in response to social media posts asking whether it was true that we had donated to two named groups – a question to which we wanted to give a full and clear answer.

“However, for those of you that have joined this conversation from different places and have been left wondering whether Lush has deliberately funded campaigning against trans rights, we want to assure you that this would never be our intention and we are sincerely sorry that any of our funding has gone towards doing this.

“The normal process for Charity Pot is that small grassroots groups and campaigns submit an application giving details about the project they wish to undertake and some background information. They are also required to give the name of two referees who can vouch for them. On top of reading the application and speaking to the referees, we also always check out the website and any group social media accounts. Where possible we also try to see what sort of content is on personal social media accounts of people attached to the group, where any names are known.

“There is never going to be a system that eliminates all mistakes, but we really take due diligence seriously. In the case of these two donations, we feel that money has gone to work that we would not feel proud to support and we wish to apologise unreservedly for that. We can assure you we are looking at all we do to try to strengthen our processes against further mistakes.

“Over the last five years Charity Pot has given grants to 514 LGBTQ+ groups totalling £1.6 million. Our intention is to continue to fund the many wonderful trans groups that come to us needing help to stay safe and to fight for acceptance and we hope that this has not put you off applying. We never wish to let you down or to not be right there by your side during your struggles.”

A statement from WPUK said: “WPUK welcomed the statement made by Lush on November 30 about its grant to our campaign and we share the concerns expressed in that statement about the toxicity of debate. We have been on the receiving end of that toxicity since our inception. Like Lush, we are very keen to see respectful debate. It is therefore disappointing that Lush has added to the toxicity of the discussion by making a further statement on December 1 in which they misrepresent our campaign. We are happy to discuss with Lush further, at any time, their misapprehensions.

“We are very grateful to Lush for the generous grant of £3,000. This funding has helped us to ensure women’s voices have been heard in public debate. WPUK appreciates their clearly pluralist approach to grant giving. We applaud them in supporting the rights of a range of disadvantaged and oppressed groups.

“We respect the decision Lush has subsequently made not to fund “campaigning work, discussion or lobbying on the specifics of the proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act”. It is, after all, not the responsibility of private companies or businesses to facilitate respectful public debate. Too many companies have adopted easy virtue-signalling stunts without addressing the fundamental inequalities faced in society, including within their own business structures. Too often, such simplistic interventions have skewed discussion, exacerbated disadvantage and failed to tackle the underlying causes of inequality.

“In the UK, public bodies have a duty to foster good relations between those with different protected characteristics, to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation prohibited by the Equality Act, and to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

“We intend to continue making sure that such bodies do their job.”

The Daily Echo has contacted FiLiA for comment.