Embattled charity finally throws in the towel as a series of investigations are undertaken
Kids Company, the under-fire youth work charity based in London, is expected to end its operations today (5 August) amidst growing concerns about its finances.
The charity, whose controversial chief executive Camila Batmanghelidjh was forced to announce her resignation plans last month, received a £3 million cash injection from the Cabinet office last week, a substantial sum of which - £800,000 - has gone on overdue staff wages, it has been reported.
It is however not known if this is permissible under the grant’s agreement as debt servicing from a grant is usually not allowed.
Batmanghelidjh is said to have emailed staff within the charity last week to say they would be paid using some of the grant money, even though the Cabinet Office said the cash was intended to be used as part of a "transformation and downsizing plan".
No official statement has come from Kids Company but local authorities, government officials and other charities are reported to have been briefed yesterday afternoon (4 August) about the closure of the charity, which supports thousands of children.
Trustees of the organisation were told in June that its annual core grant of £5m wouldn’t be awarded unless Batmanghelidjh resigned.
She did so, but not before firing a withering attack on the government which, she said, was in denial of the magnitude and scale of the problems facing children’s charities like hers which are struggling to cope with young vulnerable children.
However, it also emerged last week that separate investigations were being undertaken into sexual abuse allegations at the charity.
Kids Company was once the darling of successive governments, whose patronage the charismatic and tough talking Batmanghelidjh actively courted.
But this year the charity’s financial problems have come to the fore culminating in the Cabinet Office suspending its annual grant.
The charity itself said the child abuse allegations were “historical but serious”.
