Kids Company employees and service users told the BBC yesterday that they were concerned about the way money at the charity was being spent, including that money given to young people was spent on drugs.
BBC News interviewed staff leaving the charity’s offices in Bristol last night who were critical of how the situation has been handled and how the charity was run.
Frances Harniman, a finance officer, said: “I work in finance so I’ve seen a lot of what I deem to be inappropriate spending on staff members whose jobs we really didn’t understand.”
In another clip from The Report, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, a former client of the charity claimed that young people were given money which was spent on drugs.
“It’s weed heaven on Friday – you can smell it from down the road,” he said.
Batmanghelidjh claimed that journalists had been paying children to share their stories and that many young people are “devastated” by the closure of the charity, claiming that she had needed to talk one client out of jumping in front of a train yesterday.
Charity Commission statement
This morning the Charity Commission, which had previously said it was looking into concerns about the charity, issued a statement saying it would continue to work with the trustees and whoever is appointed as the administrator.
It met with trustees at the end of July.
“At that meeting we insisted on a number of steps being taken, including that, under the oversight of the commission, the charity instigate an immediate independent examination into the specific allegations made.
“The trustees fully cooperated with this, and had already prior to our engagement put in place changes to the governance, management of and existing financial controls within the charity.
“This work was still ongoing when the charity closed. Although the charity is closing our regulatory engagement continues and we will be making immediate contact with the receiver when appointed.”
Camila wants to form new charity
Camila Batmanghelidjh, the charity's founder and chief executive, has also spoke of her desire to find a way to continue to support its former users.
She told Today that former staff had offered to volunteer their time and she is “trying to generate some resources”.
On BBC2 she added that she hoped to “at least open a dining room” to feed people.
Read David Ainsworth's analysis of what went wrong at Kids Company here.
