Charity scraps £22m work scheme
A charity has apologised after spending more than £22m on a failed
membership scheme preparing people for retirement.
Age Concern said it was "desperately sorry" for scrapping its Heyday
scheme which attracted 44,000 of a projected 300,000 members in its
first year.
Refunds will be offered to anyone partway through their £26 annual
subscription, the charity told the BBC.
The Charity Commission said the scheme was set up in good faith but was
poorly researched, planned and implemented.
'Very sorry'
Age Concern's director general Gordon Lishman told BBC Radio 4's You And
Yours programme: "My trustees have much regret we found ourselves in
this position. I'm personally very sorry."
He said most of the money spent on the scheme was from investments and
trading, not public donations.
Heyday was launched on 30 May 2006 to support people about to retire and
aimed to have three million members within five years.
But the Charity Commission, which published a report into Heyday earlier
this month, said the scheme currently had just over 40,000 members.
Age Concern and its trading subsidiary Age Concern Enterprises Limited
spent £22m on Heyday up to March last year, the report said
Most of the cash went on staff costs, a magazine and website for
subscribers, IT equipment and systems support, it added.
During the same period Age Concern Enterprises Limited received
membership income of just £700,000, the report found.
Age Concern has merged with the charity Help the Aged. Heyday will be
scrapped on 1 April.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.
Published: 2009/03/02 16:58:35 GMT
Monday 2 March 2009
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