Insight Fundraising Limited, a telephone fundraising agency based in Norwich, has ceased trading with the possible loss of as many as 90 jobs, according to a former employee.

The company is one of at least eight fundraising agencies to cease trading in the last twelve months.

A former Insight employee told Civil Society News that Insight Fundraising ceased trading on 26 February and said that he had not been paid for at least two weeks work between 26 January and 10 February.

He said that Insight employees were told they would be paid on 26 February but that the telephone fundraising agency ceased trading on that day and “an official receiver has been appointed”. While he had only been working at the agency a short time, he said that Insight had as many as 90 staff members at the time of its collapse.

He said that he and 17 other members of staff were “made redundant” in the first week of February, with the reason given being “bad sales performance”. On 16 February, “the company turned everyone else away” and they were told by the official receiver that while they could make claims on lost wages, “the company has few, if any, assets with which to pay anyone”.

Civil Society News has attempted to contact Insight Fundraising Ltd but has received no response from its switchboard number and its website is no longer operational.

Companies House reveals that the fundraising agency was in severe financial difficulty as early as 27 November 2015, when it filed a corporate voluntary arrangement - an agreement to pay only part of the debts the company owed.

Its last set of small company accounts dated to the 31 October 2014 show that Insight had fixed assets of £114,875.

This is the second time in a week that news of a telephone fundraising agency’s closure has broken. Personal Telephone Fundraising, another telemarketing agency based in Brighton, announced that it had ceased trading on 1 March, having closed its doors on 29 February.