Kids Company closes after £3m donation withdrawn

It is thought a donor withdrew a £3m offer to the charity after learning the charity was being investigated by Scotland Yard’s child abuse unit.?

Kids Company’s founder Camila Batmanghelidjh, who last month was pressured to step down as chief executive,? told the BBC the donation had been designed to help it restructure amid Government concerns about the way it was being run.

The charity has now closed after ministers said they wanted to recover a £3m grant because the conditions attached to the use of the money had not been met. A total of 650 staff at the charity have lost their jobs.

Ministers claim that using the funding to pay staff was a breach of the terms set out when it was awarded the money on 29 July, according to reports.

In a statement, Kids Company's trustees cited a lack of funds as the reason behind the charity’s closure. However, Ms Batmanghedlidjh has blamed ‘rumour-mongering civil servants’, ministers and the media.

In an interview with Children & Young People Now, Ms Batmanghelidjh said there had been a ‘concerted campaign’ by civil servants against her in recent weeks, and that the ‘media had been paying young service users for negative stories about Kids Company'.

She also told BBC Radio 4’s The Report that she was ‘gobsmacked’ by the way its dealings with the Government were being portrayed, and that ‘huge discussions’ had taken place with the Cabinet Office before Kids Company decided to use part of the £3m grant to help pay the wages of staff.

Ms Batmanghdlidjh has claimed that the Government knew the grant would be used to pay staff when it decided to award it.

In a statement released by the charity, Kids Company confirmed that its 11 centres and work with more than 40 schools in London and Bristol, as well as its outreach project in Liverpool, will close with immediate effect. The services are used by tens of thousands of vulnerable children, young people and families across the country.

The charity’s trustees said, ‘It is with the greatest sadness and reluctance that we have reached the decision to close Kids Company. We have been forced to do so because collectively, despite the extraordinary efforts of Camila and her team, some truly enlightened philanthropists and the Government, we have not been able to continue.

‘Kids Company has touched and transformed so many young lives and it is a tragedy that this extraordinary work will come to an end leaving many thousands of vulnerable children, young people and families without hope. It is a very sad end to Camila’s pioneering vision that started over two decades ago and has inspired so many children and young people. We are in close touch with the local authorities and other charities to help our children and young people access their services. Right now our priority is trying to secure a future for these children.’

Ms Batmanghelidjh said, ‘We have been forced to close Kids Company which we do with profound sadness. Our children, staff, and volunteers supported by trustees and extraordinarily generous donors, have over the last 19 years helped create an inspirational community committed to recovery and love. The catastrophic abandonment of children who are suffering is a testimony to our collective moral failing.

‘To the staff of Kids Company, you are a gift. For everything we have learnt, I am deeply grateful.’