Regulator to investigate Save The Children over misconduct allegations
Fact-finding mission in murdered MP’s patch
THE UK’S charity regulator has launched an investigation into how a major children’s charity handled and responded to serious allegations of misconduct and harassment against senior staff in 2012 and 2015.
The Charity Commission said it was “in regulatory engagement” with The Save The Children Fund in 2015-16, after the charity reported a serious incident relating to allegations of misconduct and harassment against a senior staff member. The regulator also received an anonymous complaint about the charity’s response to further allegations against senior staff members.
Michelle Russell, of the Charity Commission, said: “This inquiry centres specifically on how the charity handled complaints in 2012 and 2015 about senior members of staff, and how the charity responded to and managed public and media scrutiny of those events in 2018. Opening a formal investigation does not necessarily mean that we have concluded that there has been wrongdoing by the trustees of The Save the Children Fund. However, we do have questions that must be answered.”
It was reported in February that Save the Children had apologised to female employees who complained of inappropriate behaviour by former chief executive Justin Forsyth.
This came after Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered MP Jo Cox, admitted that he had made “mistakes” and behaved in a way that caused some women “hurt and offence” when he was working at the charity.
A commission on loneliness set up by Mrs Cox has now been wound up. The work will be continued through a parliamentary group led by Mrs Cox’s friend Rachel Reeves MP. Tracey Crouch, who was named the first Minister for Loneliness in January, was in Yorkshire yesterday meeting Mrs Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater.
A GOVERNMENT Minister has stressed the problem of loneliness will “not be solved overnight” as she chose Yorkshire for her first fact-finding tour to meet those at the sharp end of isolation.
Three months on from being appointed as Loneliness Minister, Tracey Crouch yesterday travelled to Batley and Spen, the former constituency of MP Jo Cox, murdered by right wing fanatic Thomas Mair in 2016, to meet groups and volunteers helping those affected by the issue.
She chose Mrs Cox’s former patch in tribute to the work she did before she was killed in June 2016 in establishing a commission to investigate loneliness – work that was carried out in her name last year and resulted in the appointment of the Loneliness Minister as well as a range of initiatives which were announced by Theresa May in January to tackle the crisis. It was announced last night that the commission has now been been wound up after achieving its aims. But its work will now be continued through a parliamentary group led by Mrs Cox’s friend Rachel Reeves MP.
Ms Crouch was taken yesterday by current Batley and Spen MP Tracy Brabin to Windybank Community Centre in Liversedge, where she met volunteers from a parent and toddler group and Kirklees Young Carers, before going on to the Chatterbox centre in Howden Clough, Birstall, which has a food bank, parents’ groups and job seekers’ support.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post at Windybank, Ms Crouch said: “I really wanted to come to Batley and Spen today, because it is at the heart of the programme around loneliness that Jo started and that Tacay and her colleagues are continuing. To be here is really humbling for me, but I want to see what work is going on around the country already to try and help reduce isolation and build on that going forward.”
Ms Crouch admitted even three months on from the announcement of a government fund to support loneliness initiatives, a figure had still not been put on the fund. But she added: “We are looking at a decent spending pot. We are looking at providing a strategy for the future. This is not something that is going to be solved overnight or have just one solution.”
Ms Brabin added: “To have the focus of a Minister for Loneliness is a positive step forward. While Kirklees has had 50 per cent of its budget cut, libraries and youth centres are closing. But having the Minister see how important they are offers a glimmer of hope.”
WHEN THE Yorkshire Post launched its award-winning campaign on the hidden epidemic of loneliness, it was presumed that the elderly – and recently widowed – were most at risk of social isolation. Yet, as national awareness has increased after a link was proven between the lonely and their general wellbeing, it’s become clear that there are people of all ages and backgrounds who don’t have an extensive network of friends and support.
One in 20 adults in England feel lonely often or all of the time according to landmark research published by the Office of National Statistics. Though it singles out widowed older homeowners and unmarried people of middle age of being at particular risk, it also cites young people in rented accommodation and little sense of identity with the area where they live.
Such studies are important because they can continue to shape the work of the Jo Cox Loneliness Commission, set up in memory of the late Batley & Spen MP, and Tracey Crouch, the newlyappointed Loneliness Minister. Even more encouraging is the broad political consensus on this issue – Ms Crouch was visiting a number of initiatives yesterday with Ms Cox’s successor Tracy Brabin.
Not only does this show what is possible when MPs do set aside their differences, but it is the charitable sector and community groups who are best placed to help the vulnerable. However the challenge is still the same – reaching out to those who, for whatever reason, are cut adrift from the rest of society or might be too shy to seek support and friendship.