Society Network Foundation, the charitable parent of Big Society Network, has applied to Companies House to be struck off the register of UK companies.
The trustees have also told the Charity Commission that they intend to wind the charity up.
If the striking-off application succeeds, the charity will not have to file its 2014 accounts with Companies House as the regulator will not chase any more compliance once a company has been struck off.
The application comes a few weeks after the National Audit Office published a critical report on grants that were made to Society Network Foundation (SNF) and its trading arm Big Society Network (BSN), from the Cabinet Office and Big Lottery Fund.
SNF/BSN received at least £2.5m from statutory and lottery funders during their four years of existence yet several of their projects failed to meet their targets or achieve much social impact. The trustees have vehemently denied that they misused public funds or won grants before of their political connections.
Now the charity’s trustees have decided to wind the company up. The striking-off application was dated 7 August 2014 and signed by three of the four trustees: Jonathan Brinsden, Giles Gibbons and Randi Jo Weaver.
If the application is accepted by Companies House and there are no objections to the striking off from any creditors, no more accounts will be filed by SNF.
Society Network Foundation and Big Society Network were late filing their accounting documents with Companies House every year since they were set up, except for BSN’s accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013, which were filed within deadline.
In March 2013 Companies House started proceedings to wind up Big Society Network because its documents were so late, but withdrew these when the 2012 accounts were finally submitted on 21 May.
The SNF striking-off application states that on dissolution of the company, any remaining assets will pass to the Crown. However, the latest set of SNF accounts filed with the regulator show that the charity ended the year to March 2013 with a deficit of £50,973.
The Charity Commission is still looking into the apparent transfer in these accounts of part of a restricted government grant into unrestricted funds. The charity’s trustees have said in a statement that they obtained permission from the Cabinet Office to transfer these funds.
Calls by Civil Society News to Gibbons, Brinsden and chair Martyn Rose were not returned by the time of publication.
A complaint by SNF trustees to the Press Complaints Commission about a story in The Independent last month has now been withdrawn, according to the newspaper.
