The BeatBullying Group has entered voluntary liquidation after talks to rescue the charity’s services failed.

In a statement today trustees said: “For the past two months, with the support of our legal and financial advisors, we have engaged in intensive discussions with a number of interested parties with the hope that that we would secure the future of BBG’s services and fulfil our commitment to staff and creditors.

“It is with sadness and regret we have to report that yesterday these negotiations failed and we have taken the difficult decision to put BBG into creditors’ voluntary liquidation.”

The charity has appointed Anthony Batty & Company to manage the liquidation and has informed staff and the Charity Commission.

“This has been an especially difficult and frustrating time for those connected to BBG, particularly staff, creditors, counsellors and those who rely on the services offered by BeatBullying and Mindfull,” the statement continued.

“We have been, and continue to be, restricted in what we can and cannot say in public but we appreciate the distress this has caused and would like to reassure everyone that we did everything we could to recover the charity. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who has shown such goodwill and support during this period.”

Long-term financial difficulty

It emerged that the charity was in financial difficulty last month.

The BeatBullying and Mindful mentoring websites have been offline for three weeks. The charity announced on 20 October that it was in “significant financial difficulties” and had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.

A week later the charity said was in talks with organisations interested in buying part of the charity’s operations.

The broadcaster ITV, which gave the charity almost £700,000 from its Text Santa appeal has said it is taking legal advice after realising that the charity had planned to use the grant to pay its debts.

Civil Society News later learned that charity lost out on major sources of funding in 2013 including one funder postponing work at late stage of negotiations.

According to the anti-bullying charity's latest accounts, for the year to December 2012, it had income of £2.4m and made a loss of £281,000. In 2012, it spent £399,000 on generating voluntary income, but raised only £353,000.

Its accounts identified an overspend on technology as one reason or the deficit. A community interest company, We Are Cosmo, set up to develop and sell the Cosmo online chat software is almost a year late filing its first set of accounts with companies house.

Projects shelved

The BB Group website, which is still online, lists a number of projects that the charity planned to deliver using a Cosmo network.

FutureYou, which was a project that launched in 2010 to provide online support for young people who were not in education, employment or training (Neet) appears to have shortly before the MindFull project launched with £500,000 from the Cabinet Office in the summer of 2013.

The service, which offered peer and adult mentoring through online chat technology relaunched in December 2012. Its website now redirects to the BB Group website and its Twitter account has been closed.  

A description of the project on the BB Group site says: “FutureYou was a national programme using a Cosmo Network to enable young people to overcome the barriers they face in accessing and succeeding in education, employment and training. A localised version is currently in development.”

FutureYou received seed funding from Nesta and was also supported by the Nominet Trust. A slideshow about the project, which is available on Nesta’s website indicates that FutureYou expected to win contracts with local authorities who have responsibility for supporting Neets.

The BB Group website also says that the charity is developing two other networks in collaboration with other charities. TeachMeTo says it will be a literacy network. It has no website and a Twitter account relating to the project has been active since January 2013 but only attracted 147 followers.

According to the BB Group website Family Services is being “co-produced with a children’s charity” and Cancer Care network is being developed with a cancer charity.