Latest news with #MichaelKarimKerman
BBC News
20-05-2025
- BBC News
Kids Company: Watchdog's report 'extremely unfair' on charity
Part of a damning watchdog report into a collapsed children's charity was "extremely unfair", a High Court judge has 2022, the Charity Commission published a report on the leadership of Kids Company, following its 2015 liquidation after financial organisation supported vulnerable children and young people in London and Bristol and previously attracted celebrity backers including former Prime Minister Lord David Cameron and a judgement on Tuesday, Mr Justice Sheldon said two paragraphs in the report were "irrational" but dismissed the rest of the challenge. "The commission's observations… which give rise to the innuendo that the payments to the 'top 25' may not have been justified – are unbalanced and one-sided," Mr Justice Sheldon said."This is extremely unfair to the charity and the trustees."The fact that the report contains errors, and even a small number of irrational findings or observations, does not mean that the overall document is irrational," he commission's report said the charity had operated a "high-risk business model" and that there was mismanagement in relation to late Justice Sheldon concluded: "I do not consider that the report, looked at as a whole, was irrational."The fact that the report contains errors, and even a small number of irrational findings or observations, does not mean that the overall document is irrational." The charity's former clinical director Michael-Karim Kerman the legal challenge initiated by former chief executive, Camila Batmanghelidjh, before her death in early 2024, and he said the ruling "vindicated" the the judgment, Mr Kerman said: "Since Kids Company's traumatic closure in August 2015 there has been a concerted attempt to denounce unfairly the charity and all who were touched by it."The iron path to justice has been an arduous struggle for the supporters of Kids Company, in their relentless struggle to imprint the truth." 'Made important errors' In a statement following the ruling, the Charity Commission said the judgment upheld the finding of mismanagement of the charity's finances and rejected the claim of predetermination."While the court has dismissed the challenge on all but two grounds, and is clear that the overall findings of our report were not irrational," a spokesperson said."We acknowledge its finding that we made important errors in relation to two paragraphs of the report and will act to remedy this, the statement concluded." What was Kids Company? Founded in 1996 in south London, it provided practical, emotional and educational support to up to 36,000 deprived and vulnerable inner-city children and young addition to direct services, it ran campaigns. It funded scientific research, external and legal action against public policy. And Kids Company grew rapidly - from £2.4m of annual expenditure in 2004 to £23m in it closed, Kids Company said 11 centres in London and Bristol and an outreach project in Liverpool had shut their doors, and its work with more than 40 schools had ended.
Sky News
20-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Part of Charity Commission report on collapsed Kids Company was 'extremely unfair', judge says
Part of a Charity Commission report into the collapsed Kids Company was "extremely unfair", a High Court judge has ruled. The regulator published a report in 2022 into the management of the charity, which went into liquidation in 2015 following unfounded safeguarding allegations. Kids Company had supported vulnerable young people in London and Bristol, and counted Coldplay, artist Damien Hirst and former prime minister Lord David Cameron among its famous backers. The commission's report said the charity had operated a "high-risk business model" and said there was mismanagement in relation to late payments. The charity's former clinical director, Michael-Karim Kerman, brought a legal challenge to have the report declared unlawful at a hearing in March. The Charity Commission defended its claims. In a judgment on Tuesday, Judge Clive Sheldon said two of the report's paragraphs were unlawful but dismissed the rest of the challenge. One related to the beneficiaries who received the most financial assistance from Kids Company. He said the commission's observations "give rise to the innuendo that the payments to the 'top 25' may not have been justified" - labelling the paragraph "unbalanced and one-sided". "This is extremely unfair to the charity and the trustees," he continued. Another section of the report implied Kids Company was unable to "weather the storm" as a result of the decision to operate with a low level of reserves, Judge Sheldon said in his 49-page ruling. He added this was a "clear criticism of the trustees and would be likely to have a materially negative impact on them". However, he said the finding of financial mismanagement was "clearly one that was open" to the commission to make. There was "plainly" a basis to describe the charity's operating model as being high risk, he added. Judge Sheldon concluded: "I do not consider that the report, looked at as a whole, was irrational. "The fact that the report contains errors, and even a small number of irrational findings or observations, does not mean that the overall document is irrational." The legal challenge was started by Kids Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh before her death in early 2024. Charity's former director 'vindicated' by decision A lawyer for Mr Kerman, who continued the challenge, said he felt "vindicated" by the judge's ruling. Mr Kerman added: "The iron path to justice has been an arduous struggle for the supporters of Kids Company, in their relentless struggle to imprint the truth." The Charity Commission said: "While the court has dismissed the challenge on all but two grounds, and is clear that the overall findings of our report were not 'irrational', we acknowledge its finding that we made important errors in relation to two paragraphs of the report and will act to remedy this."
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Part of Charity Commission's Kids Company report ‘extremely unfair', says judge
Part of a Charity Commission report into the collapsed charity Kids Company was 'extremely unfair', a High Court judge has said. In February 2022, the regulator published a report into the management of the charity after it went into liquidation in August 2015 following unfounded safeguarding allegations. The charity had supported vulnerable children and young people in London and Bristol and previously attracted celebrity backers including former prime minister Lord David Cameron, Coldplay and artist Damien Hirst. The commission's report said the charity had operated a 'high-risk business model' and that there was mismanagement in relation to late payments. At a hearing in March, the charity's former clinical director Michael-Karim Kerman brought a legal challenge to have the report declared unlawful, while the Charity Commission defended the claim. In a judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice Sheldon said two paragraphs from the report were 'irrational' but dismissed the rest of the challenge. One of the paragraphs related to the so-called 'top 25', the beneficiaries who received the largest amounts of financial assistance from Kids Company. Mr Justice Sheldon said there was an innuendo in the Charity Commission report that these payments may have been problematic. This was despite previous findings of a High Court judge in other proceedings that this expenditure had been scrutinised appropriately by the trustees, which was not mentioned in the report. He said: 'The commission's observations… which give rise to the innuendo that the payments to the 'top 25' may not have been justified – are unbalanced and one-sided. 'This is extremely unfair to the charity and the trustees. 'Although the commission has a discretion as to what to include in the report of a statutory inquiry, that discretion must be exercised lawfully.' In his 49-page ruling, Mr Justice Sheldon also said another part of the report implied the charity was unable to 'weather the storm' as a result of the decision to operate with a low level of reserves. The judge said this contradicted the findings of the previous judge, who said three months of operating expenditure in reserve would have been well short of what was needed. Mr Justice Sheldon continued: 'This is a clear criticism of the trustees and would be likely to have a materially negative impact on them, as the reasonable reader would view the report as the commission saying that they were, at least in part, responsible for the demise of the charity and the good work that it was doing.' He later said the commission did not have to follow the findings of the previous judge, but 'the findings needed to be grappled with'. Mr Justice Sheldon later said that while several criticisms were made of the Charity Commission's comments about the Kids Company operating model, 'some, but not all, of the criticisms complained about were reasonably open to the commission to make'. The judge said that the finding of financial mismanagement was 'clearly one that was open' to the commission to make, and that there was 'plainly' a basis to describe the charity's operating model as being high risk. He concluded: 'I do not consider that the report, looked at as a whole, was irrational. 'The fact that the report contains errors, and even a small number of irrational findings or observations, does not mean that the overall document is irrational.' Mr Kerman had continued the legal challenge initiated by former chief executive Camila Batmanghelidjh before her death in early 2024, and he was said to be 'vindicated' by the ruling. Following the judgment, Mr Kerman said: 'Since Kids Company's traumatic closure in August 2015 there has been a concerted attempt to denounce unfairly the charity and all who were touched by it, whether in the capacity of staff, volunteer, supporter or one of the thousands of vulnerable young children and families the charity served for nearly 20 years. 'The iron path to justice has been an arduous struggle for the supporters of Kids Company, in their relentless struggle to imprint the truth.' Alex Goodman KC, who represented Mr Kerman, said Tuesday's decision was the first time the High Court has found the Charity Commission to have acted irrationally. 'I am delighted my client's claim has been vindicated,' he added. In a statement following the ruling, the Charity Commission said the judgment upheld the finding of mismanagement of the charity's finances and rejected the claim of predetermination. It continued: 'The court has confirmed it was entirely reasonable for the commission to have drawn independent regulatory conclusions on the demise of Kids Company, based on all the evidence available, in keeping with the role Parliament has set us. 'The judgment notes we took care in the inquiry report to point out areas in which the charity's trustees were acting within their duties and responsibilities, and where we found external criticism of the charity was unfounded.' The statement concluded: 'While the court has dismissed the challenge on all but two grounds, and is clear that the overall findings of our report were not 'irrational', we acknowledge its finding that we made important errors in relation to two paragraphs of the report and will act to remedy this.'
