A children’s hospice charity which provided support to families in east London has announced its closure and appointed liquidators over the festive period.
The Richard House Hospice, which was the capital’s first children’s hospice and provided care to more than 300 families, announced that it would be ceasing operations and closing down over the Christmas period, citing various financial reasons.
According to initial BBC News reports, the charity had considered merging with another children’s hospice.
Another charity supporting children and their families, Hidden Treasure Trust, has also announced that it has appointed liquidators and closed over the festive period.
Richard House sought ‘numerous options to improve financial position’
A statement on Richard House Hospice’s website says that the charity’s directors had worked to try to secure the charity’s future, “exploring numerous options to improve its financial position”.
Despite this, the charity said that “no viable solution could be found to overcome the significant financial challenges”.
According to the register of charities, Richard House had recorded an annual income of £4.79m for the year ending 31 March 2024, versus an annual expenditure of £5.18m, and employed 72 full-time equivalent (FTE) members of staff
It had also recorded deficits for the two previous years.
Adam Stephens and Lee Manning of S&W were appointed joint administrators of the charity on 17 December, the day before its formal closure on 18 December.
The charity said that the administrators would be “working closely” with Richard House staff, local services, and the integrated care board to “ensure a smooth transition and minimise disruption for children and families”.
‘Charities will continue to be pushed to breaking point’
Hidden Treasure Trust, which worked to reverse poverty for families and vulnerable people across south Manchester, had operated a large educational family play centre, centre, family support team and community training facility.
The charity cited the “impact of government policies including increases to employers national insurance and minimum wage with no exemptions for charities like ours combined with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, a universal drop in donations and competition for grant funding” as reasons for its closure.
In a statement on its website, the charity added that these factors had led to continually rising costs which it was unable to finance.
According to the register of charities, Hidden Treasure Trust had recorded an annual income of £767,000 for the year ending 30 June 2024, versus an annual expenditure of £861,000, and employed 21 FTE members of staff.
A Hidden Treasure Trust spokesperson told Civil Society: “For the past two years our staff and volunteers have gone above and beyond to try to make Hidden Treasure Trust sustainable, even as costs rose and demand for our services increased.
“There comes a point where goodwill and resilience simply aren’t enough. We hope our closure is taken seriously as a warning sign – because without change, communities will lose services they rely on, and charities will continue to be pushed to breaking point.”
