A former employee at a local Age UK charity is suspected of fraudulently gaining nearly £460,000 over a seven-year period.
Age UK Gloucestershire said in its accounts for the year ending 31 March 2023 that it identified “a potentially fraudulent transaction” on its bank accounts in early July and immediately launched an internal investigation.
Gloucestershire Constabulary confirmed to Civil Society that it had received a report from the charity of suspected fraudulent activity.
“A woman has been interviewed under caution in relation to the allegations and our investigation is ongoing,” a spokesperson said.
The Charity Commission also confirmed that Age UK Gloucestershire filed a serious incident report on 13 July 2023.
Meanwhile, Age UK Gloucestershire announced earlier this month that its CEO, Matthew Fellows, will be stepping down on 28 February.
Fellows told Civil Society that his departure was “unconnected with the serious incident”.
‘£460,000 fraudulently gained through systemic dishonesty’
Age UK Gloucestershire said that the fraudulent transaction was carried out between 2016 and 2023 and identified through enhanced financial management and reporting.
“The board appointed an expert legal advisor and an external audit company to support, with the first action being a forensic investigation,” its accounts read.
“While there is an ongoing investigation led by the police, the investigation we commissioned concluded that almost £460,000 had been fraudulently gained by a former employee through systemic dishonesty over a number of years dating back to 2016.
“It also concluded that there was no evidence that any other person has had any involvement or knowledge of the activity.”
The accounts add that the financial impact of the fraud was £85,028 in the year, and that the charity is reporting an additional operating deficit of £8,000.
“As a result of these factors and the realised loss on investments we are reporting a deficit of £112,000 for the year.”
‘No change in our current financial position’
The charity said that its board is now “working closely with the expert legal advisor to explore all options open to recovering the funds and the costs associated with so doing, including the investigation”.
“There is no change in our current financial position, due to the fraudulent transactions having been included in the records of our financial performance such as our annual report and accounts.
“While the impact on our charity continues to be assessed, we have no reason to believe there will be a direct impact upon our services, which will continue as usual.”
Fellows said: “We can confirm that a police investigation is underway regarding a former employee from Age UK Gloucestershire.
“As this is an on-going investigation, Age UK Gloucestershire is supporting the police with their enquiries and no other comment is available at this time.
“My departure is unconnected with the serious incident.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We can confirm that, in line with our guidance, Age UK Gloucestershire filed a serious incident report on 13 July 2023 relating to a suspected fraud.
“We engaged with the charity around this matter at the time and were satisfied that appropriate steps were being taken to manage the situation.”
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