Helpine charity BSS went into administration after losing two contracts worth most of its business, but "the majority" of its UK staff have been transferred to new providers, according to documents filed today.

According to the statement of administrator's proposal, filed by ReSolve Partners, one of the organisation’s Scottish operations was successfully sold to CFH Docmail Ltd, a digital mailing company, for an initial £150,000 which included a transfer of all employees and a three-month licence to occupy the premises on a pro-rata basis of £15,000.

The proposal also shows that the majority of the 150 staff who worked in the Manchester office of BSS UK were “transferred to new providers”, with 21 employees joining financial company Connect Asset Limited, and others joining insurance agency Synnex Concentrix.

However the document shows staff were not paid wages for July.

According to the charity’s last set of accounts, it employed 436 staff members. The administrator’s proposal lists 246 staff, but does not give an exact figure as to how many of those have been made redundant.

Elements of BSS continued to trade up until 3 September 2015, having first gone into administration on 17 July. The administrator estimates that total income from this period is expected to be around £1.5m.

The charity’s financial downturn was the result of it missing out on retendering service contracts with the National Career Service (NCS) in 2014 and Action Fraud in June 2015 which between them made up nearly 100 per cent of the organisation’s turnover. In addition the organisation owed over £6m to two pension schemes it was a part of. 

While a new sales director and staff were able to acquire new business, the "conversion from sales pipeline to revenue was not quick enough to replace the loss of two major contracts".  

The administrators originally attempted to rescue the company as a going concern but, due to its “high level of indebtedness” no purchaser for the entire organisation could be found.