CROYDON IN CRISIS: No chief exec in place for 12 months, accounts later than usual to be filed, and £50m wiped off its funds in five years. Now the borough’s biggest landowners are subject to a formal complaint to regulators. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Formal complaint: the Whitgift Foundation has effectively been accused of sexism over its decision to close Old Palace School
Croydon’s biggest landowners and the operators of three – soon to be two – large fee-paying schools have been subject to a formal complaint to regulators the Charity Commission.
The Whitgift Foundation, established in Croydon during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, has been spiralling into crisis over the past decade, caused by the failed redevelopment of its town centre properties, including the Whitgift Centre shopping mall, which was supposed to have been transformed by Westfield into £1.4billion-worth of new shops, offices and homes by 2017.
The Whitgift Foundation has seen almost £50million lost from its funds in just five years. In September, the registered charity shocked parents, staff and pupils at the £20,000 per year Old Palace girls’ private school that it would be closing in July 2025 stating that there was “no viable alternative”.
The Foundation has effectively been without a chief executive for a year, due to ill-health and then retirement of Martyn Corney, and its annual accounts up to August 2023 – which would usually be expected to be filed in March or April – have yet to be published.
The quarter-a-billion-pound property business is a registered charity, with all the tax breaks associated with that status, because of its work with the posh independent schools and old people’s homes and Croydon’s historic almshouses, which date back to 1596 when John Whitgift was Archbishop of Canterbury.
Propped up: the declining state of the Whitgift Centre is causing financial headaches for the Foundation’s trustees
Much of the Foundation’s commercial business and rentals are managed through Stiles Harold Williams, the estate agency which also handles much of Croydon Council’s property interests.
Regulator the Charity Commission has received the complaint from a group of parents angry that their daughters’ education is being so badly disrupted, at very short notice, and through no fault of theirs, or Old Palace School itself.
The complaint accuses the Whitgift Foundation of poor financial management which has seen a 17% reduction in unrestricted funds since 2017 – this, for a property business based in London. “This reduction will likely increase when this year’s financials are published,” the parents’ complaint suggests.
The complaint also accuses the Whitgift Foundation of causing “Serious harm to beneficiaries”, effectively labelling the charity as sexist.
State of decline: can a London-based property business justify continuing to lose funds in the manner the Whitgift Foundation has done since 2017?
The complainants say: “Girls from disadvantaged backgrounds will no longer have their education supported by the charity… This goes against the 1969 Whitgift Charities Act which calls for the ‘provision of education for the children of the parish of Croydon’ and is clearly a discriminatory decision.”
The Whitgift Foundation’s other fee-paying schools are Trinity, in Shirley Park, and Whitgift, in South Croydon, which are – save for some girls in Trinity’s 6th form – boys’ schools.
Hot seat: Whitgift Foundation chair Christopher Houlding now has a Charity Commission complaint to deal with
This accusation should be particularly troublesome for the Foundation’s ruling Court of Governors, where several trustees, including Rt Rev Dr Rosemarie Mallett, the Bishop of Croydon, are appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The complaint to the Charity Commission also cites, “Other significant non-compliance breaches of trust or abuses that otherwise impact significantly on public trust and confidence in the charity and charities generally.”
They say: “The Court of Governors has no accountability and took the decision to close Old Palace without consulting Croydon Council, the Mayor of Croydon, local MPs, parents or other schools.
“Many of the governors have been in position for unjustifiably long periods and the selection process for new governors remains completely opaque.”
Christopher Houlding, a Trinity old boy who announced the decision to close Old Palace school, has been chair of the Court of Governors for almost 10 years.
The concerned parents have also taken their case to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. A flunky at Lambeth Palace responded: “Archbishop Justin is aware of the issues… and has been in communication with the John Whitgift Foundation.”
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
Read more: Another Whitgift shock as second head teacher decides to quit
Read more: Foundation brings forward Old Palace prep closure by a year
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Has the call gone out to Baron Barwell to save the day and pull the Whitgift Foundation out of this death spin into oblivion. On second thoughts. Lets not make a seriously bad situation worse.
What’s the % of charity fraud committed by those in charge – I know it’s pretty high. Look inwards for those who are culpable……
There’s no evidence for any suggestion of fraud. Perhaps a Charity Commission investigation might find some.
There’s plenty of evidence of hard-core incompetence, and a landowners being played for a decade by ruthless, multi-billion multi-national developers.