Voucher charity goes into administration

V THE CHARITY Commission is awaiting further information after one of the main charity voucher companies serving the Charedi community was put into administration this week.

Donors to the Society of Friends of the Torah (Soft), which is registered in Golders Green, were told by administrators not to make further donations. Recipients of vouchers will be unable to cash them.

Michael Goldstein of RG Insolvency Ltd, who has been appointed joint administrator with his colleague Avner Radomsky, said in a statement on Wednesday that the charity had experienced “some challenging times” over the recent past and “fallen victim” to circumstances that had led to their appointment.

But they did not release any detail on the background to its troubles, saying only that investigations were “ongoing”.

Vouchers are a common feature of the Charedi charity scene and Soft is believed to be the oldest scheme catering for an expanding community.

According to Soft’s last accounts, it had an income of around £20.8 million in 2017 and reserves of around £2.8 million.

With a small part-time of staff of eight, it operated with minimal administration costs of just under £159,000.

It is a few weeks overdue with its latest accounts for 2018, which should been filed at the commission by the end of October.

The commission said this week that it was awaiting further information about the charity, “which will determine our next steps”.

Six years ago, Soft was briefly the subject of an inquiry by the commission after its 2011 accounts were overdue.