Charity watchdog launches probe into lease-based provider

News17 Oct 2022James Wilmore

The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into a lease-based supported housing provider to investigate “potential conflicts of interest and possible mismanagement of funds”.

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The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into a lease-based supported housing provider to investigate “potential conflicts of interest and possible mismanagement of funds” #UKhousing #SocialHousingFinance

Bolton-based My Space Housing Solutions is now the subject of a statutory probe after the watchdog inspected the group’s books and records in August this year. An initial compliance case was opened in July.

The commission said it has identified that since April 2015, £1,098,538 of the charity’s funds has been paid to nine people who were serving as trustees at the time the payments were made.

“These payments raise concerns about conflicts of interest and an inquiry has been launched to assess potential misconduct and mismanagement,” the Charity Commission said.

However, a My Space spokesperson said: “The statement creates an impression of wrongdoing which was not the case.”

My Space, which provides supported accommodation to vulnerable adults, has had a non-compliant G3/V3 rating with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) since December 2020. In its first assessment of the group, the RSH concluded that there were “significant weaknesses in My Space’s business planning framework”.

The provider is one of a number of lease-based providers of supported housing that has been found non-compliant by the English regulator.

In a statement to Social Housing, the RSH said it is continuing to “engage intensively” with My Space and has been in discussions with the Charity Commission for a number of months to ensure “effective regulation” of the provider.

“We continue to be concerned about the sustainability of a number of lease-based providers of supported housing, of which My Space is one example,” the RSH’s statement added.

My Space, which has around 1,500 tenants across the North West, the North East, the Midlands and Wales, has also been the subject of a BBC Panorama investigation into its financial affairs.

In its investigation, the Charity Commission said it will examine the administration, governance and management of the charity and in particular:

Conflicts of interest and connected party transactions
Whether the charity has suffered a financial loss as a result of any misconduct or mismanagement of funds

A spokesperson for My Space said: “We have raised an objection to the wording of the statement issued by the Charity Commission. Specifically, where clarity is not being given that all payments were appropriately recorded within the charity’s accounts and were disclosed to the charity’s auditors appropriately.

“The mismanagement stated relates purely to the fact that commission’s approval was not obtained prior to making these payments as outlined within the charity’s governing document.

“The statement creates an impression of wrongdoing which was not the case. There was no malice in these payments, and they were fully disclosed within the accounts filed to Companies House and to the Charity Commission. The mismanagement purely relates to poor governance in administrative functions.”

According to Companies House, My Space’s latest accounts are overdue. It missed a deadline of 31 July 2022.

My Space is a lessee of social housing REITs Civitas and Triple Point. A Civitas spokesperson said it had no comment on the inquiry. Triple Point has yet to respond to a request for comment.