Hopes of rescuing a historic Durham charity that has helped thousands of veterans and people with complex needs have vanished.
Finchale Training College was founded in WW2 and last year trustees brought in administrators after struggling to meet funding requirements. The charity had moved into purpose built premises at Durham's Belmont Industrial Estate only several years ago, having sold the large Pity Me site where it once hosted residential support, originally for returning servicemen.
The longstanding charity - which expanded to help people with disabilities and physical and mental health needs - collapsed in October after years of making losses and several failed turnaround plans put in place amid significant staff and board level changes. Administrators at FRP said there had been meetings with parties interested in buying Finchale as a going concern but talks stopped as it was determined the underlying business was not viable.
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Instead, Finchale's intellectual property, history and heritage was sold for £5,000. Meanwhile assets such as a forklift truck and tooling used at the charity's nearby Cathedral Park Academy - used to train hundreds of young people and adults in construction trades - were sold at auction.
Preferential creditors of the company, including staff, were paid in full with estimated debts of more than £8,000 expected to be paid to HMRC. Meanwhile unsecured creditors, including suppliers, are now expected to be paid from a liquidation underway.
An earlier update from FRP said Finchale had managed to mitigate losses with large cash reserves received from the sale of its Pity Me site in 2018. The administrators said: "The company had a historic trust based pension scheme that had a significant deficit. A payment plan was agreed with the pension trustees and various large payments were made to the pension fund from the sale proceeds. The company missed a payment due in 2022 and was negotiating an updated payment plan but no agreement had been reached.
"There had been significant changes in staff and board members in recent years. The directors and senior management team implemented various turnaround plans, however the company continued to make losses. The turnaround plans and revenue streams were also fundamentally impacted by the restrictions introduced as a result of Covid-19
"The financial pressures mounted and the company struggled to manage its cost base or generate new revenue by increasing the student uptake on its courses."
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