A charity has received a letter from a member of the House of Lords, accusing it of sending them “obscene” campaigning material.
In March, cerebral palsy charity UP sent 822 members of the House of Lords a card containing 42p in coins after a study commissioned by the charity estimated that proper healthcare for each adult with cerebral palsy would cost that amount per day.
The charity said it received several positive responses, however one unidentified peer wrote back to say: “Stop wasting even small change if you want to do good. I am returning this obscene card.”
UP also received an email from the Charity Commission asking why it had conducted the campaign after the regulator received a complaint.
CEO ‘extremely upset’ to receive letters
Emma Livingstone, chief executive and co-founder of the charity, said she was “extremely upset” to receive the letters from the peer, who it could not identify from their signature, and the email from the Charity Commission.
She defended the decision of the charity, which recorded an income of £19,000 in the year to April 2022, to spend £336 in coins to “dramatise the many challenges [adults with cerebral palsy] face every day”.
“I can only assume that the same unnamed, unelected, individual has chosen to make the equally upsetting complaint to the Charity Commission,” she said.
“Instead of attacking our charity, they could surely have spent their time more usefully asking the government to ensure this population of adults – similar in size to those with MS and Parkinson’s disease – get the level of support and services they equally deserve by implementing the existing NICE Guidelines.
“Strangely, they also seem to have missed our encouragement under the coins in the card to ‘donate this money to a charity of your choice’.”
Regulator not taking further action
A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a concern was raised with us about the charity’s campaign.
“We take all concerns raised with us seriously, and consider each carefully. In this case, we spoke to the charity and provided general advice and guidance. We will not be taking regulatory action”.
Meanwhile, Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie responded positively to the charity’s campaign.
“I was really pleased to receive the 42p campaign this week from UP. I hope the government will heed their call and improve support for adults with cerebral palsy,” she said.
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