Charity shops face 230 abuse allegations

‘It’s almost as if regulation for them is unnecessary because everybody who works there would be nice’

HUNDREDS of charity shop workers from organisations including Age UK, Barnado’s, Shelter and Oxfam have been investigated for sexually inappropriate behaviour – some involving children.

A survey of 10 of the UK’S biggest charities – which together operate 4,000 shops – uncovered at least 230 allegations about staff and volunteers over the past five years.

Eleven of the victims were aged under 18, with the youngest aged just 15, the charities told reporters from BBC Radio’s 5 Live Investigates.

One man was allowed to volunteer at a charity shop despite having previously been given a suspended jail sentence for downloading child abuse images. He became the shop’s assistant manager and was dismissed when police told the charity about his previous conviction. He was later jailed for three years for further offences involving indecent images of children.

Charities have been left reeling from a number of sex allegations in recent weeks after it emerged that Oxfam workers sent to help earthquake victims in Haiti paid prostitutes for sex.

Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, will today tell aid charities that they will not get any more Government grants unless they adhere to strict new safeguarding rules. She will tell them that aid sector “needs to be honest about past mistakes” and “it must do all it can to win back the trust of the British public”. Ms Mordaunt has asked 179 charities to set out how they are protecting beneficiaries and is likely to say how many need to do more later today.

According to the survey, Barnardo’s handled 14 sexual harassment and safeguarding allegations in the past five years, Age UK had 16, Cancer Research UK and Sue Ryder both had 10 while Shelter had five and the Salvation Army had three. The British Heart Foundation said the majority of 25 cases at the charity were in its retail sector.

Oxfam’s British operation revealed 150 incidents across its trading division over the five years, 63 being upheld. The true figure is likely to be higher because some charities only provided data for the past 12 months, including the British Red Cross, which reported six and Scope, which had three.

Georgina Halford-hall, of Whistleblowers UK, said the charity sector as a whole attracts predators.

“It’s almost as if regulation for them is deemed unnecessary because, of course, everybody who works there would be nice,” she said. The Charity Retail Association said measures were in place to ensure staff and volunteers were properly vetted.