Oxfam face losing £31m taxpayer aid
Charity warned on funding over sex allegations
OXFAM’S handling of sex allegations has been condemned by the Government – with a threat that £31million in taxpayer funding could be cut off.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said the charity had failed to show “moral leadership” and failed to properly inform donors, regulators and prosecutors about the actions of their workers.
Hollywood star Minnie Driver has become the first celebrity to quit as an Oxfam ambassador amid allegations that senior staff working in crisis zones paid for sex with vulnerable locals.
The charity also face a challenge to hang on to major corporate partners.
In a speech, Mordaunt tore into Oxfam over their response to the revelations about aid workers in Haiti in 2011.
She said: “The revelations about Oxfam – not solely the actions perpetrated by a number of those staff but the way the organisation responded to those events – should be a wake-up call to the sector. They let perpetrators go. They did not inform donors, their regulator or prosecuting authorities.”
Oxfam received £31.7million in taxpayer funding in 2016-17 but Mordaunt indicated that could be at risk, adding: “No organisation is too big, or our work with them too complex, for me to hesitate to remove funding from them if we cannot trust them.”
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer, who run a partnership with Oxfam, said they’re monitoring how the charity are dealing with the scandal, adding: “These are very serious allegations.”
Other Oxfam partners such as Visa and Heathrow Airport also said they were examining the situation.