Almost seven years after the spectacular collapse of Kids Company, the truth about what happened then is not widely enough known. A report from the Charity Commission released last week ought to have cleared things up. But by emphasising a technical finding of “mismanagement”, while downplaying the comprehensive vindication of the charity’s trustees in the high court, the commission has pulled its punches – perhaps for fear of offending the government, which spent £9.5m in a failed attempt to get Kids Company’s trustees and CEO, Camila Batmanghelidjh, disqualified as company directors.
The problems at Kids Company identified by the Charity Commission and others must be treated seriously. The charity expanded rapidly, with expenditure rising from £2.4m in 2004 to £23m in 2013, and arguably did not pay enough attention to the risks such growth entailed. Had it built up larger reserves, it might have been better able to withstand the storm that broke when allegations that it had mishandled reports of sexual abuse were made (police found “no evidence of criminality”). There was a lack of psychotherapy and youth work expertise on the board, meaning trustees may have been limited in the forms of challenge offered to their charismatic chief executive and main fundraiser.
