Britain’s biggest children’s charity, Barnardo’s, has rewritten its website and is revising other promotional material after a Guardian investigation into its spending claims.
The charity, which had an income of £299.5m in the last financial year, has long boasted that 92p goes on “working with the children and young people” for every £1 that it spends a year.
The claim has been a mainstay of its marketing for years but Barnardo’s website has now been “clarified” and a spokesperson said all “relevant materials” were being reviewed “to ensure this clarification is reflected there” after an analysis of the charity’s annual accounts by this newspaper.
According to the charity’s latest company accounts, Barnardo’s spent £274,570,000 in the financial year ending 2022, of which £202,437,000 was spent on charitable activities.
The figures suggest that 73.7% of expenditure was on the good causes it seeks to fund, or 73.7p of every pound spent, rather than 92p. The charity also includes about £5m it spends on “informing the public about our work” as a charitable activity.
Barnardo’s said the original claims for its spending had not included expenditure related to running its 605 shops.
It did not provide any further explanation of the calculations but the charity said it had as a result of the Guardian’s investigation added caveats on to the 92p claim where it appeared on its website.
A spokesperson said: “We are always looking for ways to improve the way we present our data and have now clarified this on our website and will review our relevant materials to ensure this clarification is reflected there.”
According to the charity’s accounts, the largest area of expenditure at Barnardo’s last year was on staff costs of £168.3m, which increased by £3.5m from 2020-21, according to the annual accounts. The charity had 7,427 paid staff.
Barnardo’s chief executive, Lynn Perry, is paid between £250,000 and £259,999 – the charity did not provide a more specific figure. A further 65 members of staff earn more than £60,000 a year. Six members of staff earn more than £100,000, the annual accounts suggest.
Rebecca Mauger, Barnardo’s director of fundraising and marketing, said: “As a charity that relies on generous donations from the public to help us support children and young people across the UK, we aim to be totally transparent about how we spend our money and present this information in a way which is easy for our supporters to understand.
“For every £1 we spend (excluding retail costs), approximately 92p goes on working with the children and young people who most need our help. Our charity shops and online trading generate vital income that we reinvest in our services for children, young people and families across the UK.”
A spokesperson said the original 92p figure was used to allow comparison with charities that do not have a retail wing.
The revision by Barnardo’s of its website and promotional material was welcomed by the charitable sector’s regulator.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “The public expects charities to be transparent and open about their operations, including how and where donations are used. We welcome steps taken by Barnardo’s to resolve the issue raised and improve its transparency.”
Barnardo’s provided support through funding and provision of a range of services to 357,276 children, young people, parents and carers last year.
But charities are in fierce competition for donations at a time when households are struggling to meet the costs of living and there is evidence of growing mistrust over how they spend their money.
According to research from the Charities Aid Foundation the number of people giving to charity in the UK is declining significantly. Between January and April 2022, an estimated 4.9 million fewer people said they donated to charity or sponsored someone in the previous year, compared with the same months in 2019.
A survey by the Charity Commission last April found declining levels of public trust, with the regulator noting a “stubbornly persistent scepticism regarding how charities use their money and how they behave”.
Despite the desire for greater transparency, there remains some opaqueness over spending and a reluctance in some parts of the sector to deal with the issue, critics claim.
