A charity that transports blood and other medical supplies made unauthorised payments to its trustees, an investigation has found.
The Charity Commission published its statutory inquiry report into Devon Freewheelers today, which also found the organisation changed its charitable objects without the regulator’s consent.
It opened the inquiry in September last year after finding “potential irregularities” in its financial accounts, which had been filed late.
The Commission said it was satisfied that the charity’s current trustees were using its advice and therefore closed its inquiry.
Unauthorised payment to current CEO
The inquiry found unauthorised payments were made to two trustees, including the charity’s current chief executive, which amounted to misconduct or mismanagement.
It found that Devon Freewheelers’ current CEO received a “modest” monthly payment when they were a trustee despite the charity’s governing document prohibiting this unless specific conditions were met.
The CEO has now stepped down from the board and the Commission is considering the charity’s request to continue employing them as its leader.
It also found that unauthorised payments were made to a current trustee for servicing the charity’s vehicles.
The inquiry report says that these payments were well documented but there was no written contract in place specifying a maximum amount that could be paid to the trustee.
Devon Freewheelers has since entered into a contract with the current trustee for the provision of goods and services allowing payment of up to £5,000 per year.
Covid-19 response services
The inquiry found that the charity provided paid Covid-19 response services during the height of the pandemic for Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust under a service level agreement (SLA).
To deliver the services, the charity hired additional staff and upscaled its operations, which fell outside its declared objects.
The Commission said the previous trustees widened the charity’s objects without first obtaining its required prior written consent.
Its report says: “The decisions made by the previous trustees to enter the SLA and amend its charitable objects without the consent of the Commission, was misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity by the previous trustees.
“The inquiry found that the delivery of paid services under the SLA conflicted with the charity’s ethos of delivering its usual blood bike operations free of charge which created confusion to the public over the charity’s operation and ultimately damaged the charity’s reputation.”
Devon Freewheelers’ previous CEO set up a private limited company, which took over the SLA in August 2020, and returned to offering free blood transport services.
‘Current trustees have cooperated fully’
Amy Spiller, head of investigations at the Charity Commission, said: “The current trustees have cooperated fully with our investigation to help improve how the charity is run and are using our advice and guidance to ensure best practice moving forward.
“We are therefore confident there is no further role for us at this time and can conclude our inquiry.
“My advice to all trustees is to ensure that you know and understand the full range of your duties and responsibilities.
“We have guidance to help you on many issues, including filing your accounts on time, recording and managing conflicts of interest and documenting decision-making so that, if required, you can evidence that you are working in the best interests of your charity.”
Charity: ‘An opportunity to improve’
Devon Freewheelers CEO Russell Roe said his charity welcomed the report.
“We regarded this as an opportunity to improve, have worked with the Commission to address all the issues they noted and resolved them to the Commission’s satisfaction,” he said.
“As part of their investigation, they were able to confirm that the blood bikes charity ‘has not charged and does not charge for its services’.
“Since the events that triggered the investigation, the charity has submitted two further sets of annual accounts, fully audited, on time and compliant.
“Today, under new management and trustees we are confident that we are operating in line with all legal requirements and best practice going forward.”
Related Articles
