The trustees of Society Network Foundation have rejected the Cabinet Office claim that the charity ought to repay £34,000 of its Social Action Fund grant, insisting that they had permission to transfer the unspent grant into general funds.

Yesterday the Cabinet Office said it was seeking to recoup £33,994 from Society Network Foundation, the parent charity of Big Society Network, because the sum “was not spent in line with the grant agreement”.

Society Network Foundation had revealed in its 2013 annual accounts published earlier this year that it had transferred part of a restricted £200,000 Social Action Fund (SAF) grant it had received from the Cabinet Office, into general funds and used it to reduce the historical deficit in its trading arm, Big Society Network.

At the time, the charity’s chief executive Steve Moore told Civil Society News that the funder had authorised the charity to move the unspent grant money into unrestricted funds.
But the grant manager, the Social Investment Business, denied that it had given such permission.

Last month, the charity’s trustees issued a statement which claimed that “at a meeting with the Cabinet Office the trustees sought and received reassurances that any remaining SAF funds could be used for unrestricted purposes, such purposes in line with the charitable objects of the organisation”.

And after yesterday’s announcement that the government is seeking to recoup almost £34,000 from the charity, the trustees provided Civil Society News with a statement:  “The trustees of the Society Network Foundation position is that there is no basis to demanding repayment of the Social Action Fund grant because the Cabinet Office agreed to waive the grant conditions when the remaining grant was withdrawn, thereby enabling the balance of funds held by the charity to be applied to general operating costs.

“The charity is in correspondence with Social Investment Business, the administrators of the grant, about this issue.”

Asked whether the charity could provide any written evidence that the Cabinet Office gave this authorisation, the charity’s chair Martyn Rose (pictured) told Civil Society News this morning: “Clearly the trustees feel that they are on very clear ground to make the statement they made.”