Save the Children will stop taking aid cash during sex investigation
SAVE the Children will not seek further government cash during the official investigation into sexual harassment at the charity.
Chief executive Kevin Watkins said it has volunteered to withdraw temporarily from seeking Department for International Development funding until the charity can meet the ‘high standards’ expected. Last year, Save the Children received £138million from the British taxpayer – three times more than the next charity on the list.
The withdrawal will cause a headache for International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, who will have to find other organisations to funnel money through. Oxfam has also had its DfID funding suspended after the charity was accused of covering up claims that staff used prostitutes while delivering aid to disaster-stricken Haiti in 2011.
Save the Children’s decision comes two weeks after the Charity Commission launched an inquiry into claims of a highlevel cover-up of allegations against two executives. The watchdog is looking at whether the charity adequately reported what it knew about accusations against former chief executive Justin Forsyth and policy director Brendan Cox.
Save the Children apologised earlier this year to women employees who complained of inappropriate behaviour by Mr Forsyth. He allegedly sent inappropriate texts and commented on what young female staff were wearing.
It was claimed if the women did not reply, he would continue to pester them. Mr Cox stepped down after admitting he had ‘made mistakes’.
Last week the chairman of Save the Children International, Sir Alan Parker, resigned following claims he intervened personally to address accusations against the two men. A leaked 2015 report suggested that Sir Alan’s ‘ very close’ relationship with Mr Forsyth, who left the charity in 2016, may have affected how he responded to complaints.
In a letter to Miss Mordaunt, current boss Mr Watkins said: ‘ While I greatly regret both the circumstances that have brought us to this juncture and the consequences for children, I fully recognise our responsibility to meet the high standards that you rightly expect.’
He added that it was fully co-operating with the inquiry to ensure ‘ a truthful account emerges’ into the allegations of sexual harassment reported in 2012 and 2015.
Mr Watkins told the BBC the move was voluntary and that the accusations against senior staff made his ‘ stomach churn’. He said he was ‘heartbroken’ the charity would have to scale back its work but pointed out the moratorium would not apply to existing programmes.
The offer has been accepted by Miss Mordaunt, who said: ‘I am committed to driving up standards across the aid sector and I expect every organisation that we work with to have rigorous reporting and complaints mechanisms in place to protect beneficiaries and employees alike.’