A century-old community charity in Peckham has entered voluntary administration today.

Peckham Settlement, whose patron was the Countess of Wessex, was formed in 1896 and provided a range of services to the people of Peckham; including a nursery, an advice centre for the Irish traveller community and help for startup businesses in the area.

A statement from the charity’s administrators, Herron Fisher, says due to lack of funds and operational difficulties, the executive committee of the Peckham Settlement have put the organisation into administration and it will close with immediate effect. All 32 staff have been made redundant.

The administrators are hopeful that some of the Settlement’s existing projects may be transferred to other charitable providers to possibly provide new employment for those who have lost jobs.

Peckham Settlement ran a number of community development projects, including SE-Village, one of 16 projects out of 300, chosen by Nesta to get funding from its Neighbourhood Challenge project.

Peckham Settlement’s most recent available accounts show it had an income of around £1m. However, during 2011/11, its accounts advise the charity struggled with cash flow, and relied on an interest-free loan from a trustee to stay afloat.