Most employees at Barnabas Aid have resigned amid a dispute with its linked international organisation and ongoing investigations, according to recently filed documents.
Barnabas Aid’s latest accounts state that “about three-quarters of the payroll” left the Christian charity between April 2024 and November last year.
Some 25 staff were employed by Barnabas Aid in the year ending 31 August 2024, before the departures, the report states.
The trustees criticised “obstruction and delays caused to the audit” by staff at Nexcus International, Barnabas Aid’s global wing, which has reportedly claimed the charity owes it £6.4m.
Their report alleges that Nexcus International has “day-to-day control” of Barnabas Aid’s finances, refusing access to its bank accounts and information about staff.
Nexcus International, which has since rebranded as Barnabas Aid International and is described as a “non-profit corporation in Virginia, USA”, said the report “contains a number of inaccurate or misleading statements”.
Income decline
Barnabas Aid’s income, most of which is from donations and legacies, declined from £19.5m in 2022-23 to £16.5m in 2023-24.
It reported a deficit of £297,000 for the year 2023-24, with its charitable expenditure standing at £16.6m.
The report says a loss of income due to reputational damage and change of ethos and values were the “greatest risk facing the charity” since 23 April 2024.
It adds that the “steady” loss of staff was compounded by dwindling “personal relationships with supporters” which were previously a “high priority” for the charity.
Despite the declines, the report says: “The trustees believe the statement of financial affairs shows a strong performance by Barnabas Aid in the context of a difficult economic environment.”
The trustees claimed that the UK charity was unable to control its cash reserves, which were valued at £9.7m at the end of 2023-24, a decrease from £12.5m a year earlier.
Global organisation claims report inaccurate
In September 2024, the Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into allegations of authorised payments to trustees and related parties at Barnabas Aid.
A month later, it restricted Barnabas Aid’s ability to spend money, with any payment over £4,000 now requiring the regulator’s approval.
Then in November 2024, two people were arrested as part of a police investigation into fraud and money laundering allegations at a linked “Barnabas family” charity.
The following month, the commission announced it was investigating four “Barnabas family” charities - the Oxford Centre for Religion in Public Life plus the Wiltshire-based TBF Trust, Reconciliation Trust and Servants Fellowship International.
The report states that, since April 2024, Nexcus has “prevented the majority of the trustees from accessing the charity’s bank accounts”.
Trustees expressed concerns that “some funds donated to the charity have not been used by Nexcus for the purposes for which the donors gave them”.
They also said that Nexcus International’s name change to Barnabas Aid International had caused confusion to the supporters of the charity “and possible inadvertent deflection of their giving”.
In response to the claims, a Barnabas Aid International spokesperson said: “Sadly, the trustees’ report contains a number of inaccurate or misleading statements by the trustees, which the leadership of Barnabas Aid [International] were not privy to before publication.
“The role of the auditors is not to check the factual accuracy of every statement in the trustees’ report.
“Their responsibility is limited to ensuring the information shared in the report is materially consistent with the financial statements.”
The spokesperson added that they were supporting the Charity Commission with its investigation.
Statutory inquiry and police investigation ‘ongoing’
The trustees’ report states that the commission’s statutory inquiry has been damaging to the charity’s reputation.
A commission spokesperson confirmed that its inquiry was ongoing and would not comment on whether spending restrictions were still in place.
The accounts state that the arrests made by Wiltshire Police involved a trustee and senior executive following an investigation “which commenced in April 2024 by a law firm, appointed by Nexcus International, which was not chosen or approved by the majority of the charity's trustees”.
Wiltshire Police confirmed that the two people arrested in connection to fraud and money laundering at a “Barnabas family” charity have since been released under investigation.
