Abstract
It was July 2015 and panic was mounting at the offices of Kids Company, the charity for vulnerable children, because there was not enough cash to pay salaries that month. Within a few days, management heaved a collective sigh of relief as a long-negotiated £3 million grant from central government arrived and the wages were paid. But just hours later, allegations of child abuse at Kids Company were handed to the BBC, which set off an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Donors withdrew their support. The charity was forced to close as tearful children gathered outside the drop-in centres and staff distributed whatever food and goods were left.
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Notes
- 1.
UK Charity Commission, www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-trustee-whats-involved.
- 2.
Now called Place2Be.
- 3.
Kids Company, Invest to Save Budget Formal Bid, 2005.
- 4.
Office for National Statistics (2005) Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
- 5.
National Health Service—a universal, publicly funded health service.
- 6.
Keeping Kids Company (2013) Annual Report and Accounts 2013.
- 7.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills (2015), Ofsted Social Care Report 2013–14, 10 March 2015.
- 8.
Excluding research-focused charities.
- 9.
UK Civil Society Almanac (2012) How much does the voluntary sector hold as reserves? 17 February 2012.
- 10.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (2016) The collapse of Kids Company: Lessons for charity trustees, professional firms, the Charity Commission, and Whitehall, HC433, 28 January 2016.
- 11.
Cook, C. (2015) Kids Company—Do the sums add up? BBC, 20 October 2015.
- 12.
Comic Relief raises money through entertainment, such as telethons and Red Nose Day, to tackle poverty and social injustice.
- 13.
National Audit Office (2015) Investigation: The government’s funding of Kids Company, HC566, 29 October 2015.
- 14.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (2016) The collapse of Kids Company: Lessons for charity trustees, professional firms, the Charity Commission, and Whitehall, HC433, 28 January 2016.
- 15.
Goslett, M. (2015) The Trouble with Kids Company, The Spectator, 14 February 2015.
- 16.
National Audit Office (2015) Investigation: The government’s funding of Kids Company, HC566, 29 October 2015.
- 17.
National Audit Office (2015) Investigation: The government’s funding of Kids Company, HC566, 29 October 2015.
- 18.
Public Accounts Committee (2015) The Government’s funding of Kids Company, HC504, 13 November 2015.
- 19.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (2016) The collapse of Kids Company: Lessons for charity trustees, professional firms, the Charity Commission, and Whitehall, HC433, 28 January 2016.
- 20.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, The collapse of Kids Company: Lessons for charity trustees, professional firms, the Charity Commission, and Whitehall, HC433, 28 January 2016.
- 21.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, The collapse of Kids Company: Lessons for charity trustees, professional firms, the Charity Commission, and Whitehall, HC433, 28 January 2016.
- 22.
Keeping Kids Company (2013) Annual Report and Accounts 2013.
- 23.
E-mail from John Moore.
- 24.
Up to 12 years in some countries.
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Micklethwait, A., Dimond, P. (2017). Kids Company: Passion Overruled Reason. In: Driven to the Brink. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59053-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59053-4_7
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