BeatBullying will go into administration after suffering “significant financial difficulties”, the charity’s trustees have said in a statement.
In the statement, released today, the trustees said they had decided to appoint an administrator and would announce details after the appointment is made.
BeatBullying’s website was taken down at the end of last week and replaced with a message directing people who need help or support to the Samaritans and ChildLine. The charity's offices are believed to be closed.
According to details on the Commission’s website, BeatBullying has 44 employees and 5,431 volunteers. When contacted by Civil Society News to ask whether staff had been paid in full, the charity said it could not comment.
According to the anti-bullying charity's latest accounts, for the year to December 2012, it had income of £2.4m and made a loss of £281,000. In 2012, it spent £399,000 on generating voluntary income, but raised only £353,000.
The accounts were filed in January this year, 85 days late.
The charity ended the year with a deficit of £302,000 in unrestricted funds and its auditors, Sayer Vincent, emphasised that they had looked into whether the charity could continue as a going concern.
Between December 2012 and April 2013, all but one of the board were replaced with new trustees.
The trustees’ statement says: “The Beat Bullying Group has for some time faced a challenging financial environment. The nature of this challenge has recently become acute, resulting in the charity facing significant financial difficulties.
“Our aim is to resolve this difficult situation as soon as possible and to the fullest extent we can, given the difficulties faced by BBG, in the best interests of its creditors and staff.
“Trustees and management have worked assiduously to address this situation including, on Monday 13 October filing a notice of BBG's intention to appoint administrators. This was to protect BBG from creditor action while possible options could be explored.
“Prior to, and during this period, the trustees (with both legal and financial support) have been engaged in intensive discussion and negotiation with a number of third parties, the outcome of which will enable us to identify the best way forward for BBG its creditors, employees and service users.”
The 2012 accounts say that since the date of the balance sheet, the charity continued to source additional funding, including a £250,000 loan from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to cover short-term cash requirements. It also received a £293,276 from the Cabinet Office in November last year.
It was also due to receive a minimum of £698,000 from the ITV Text Santa appeal.
A note in the accounts said trustees expected that this would enable the charity to pay all its current liabilities.
BeatBullying was founded in 1999 by its current chief executive Emma-Jane Cross and became a registered charity in 2003.
