CROYDON IN CRISIS: Official figures show that the borough’s biggest landowners saw their funds fall by 5.5% in the latest trading year – and that was before incurring any costs from closing Old Palace girls’ school.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Shaky foundations: Archbishop Whitgift, the charity’s founder. How might he have seen the loss of £11.4m in just one year?
The Whitgift Foundation’s annual report shows that the property and private education business that is dressed up to look like a charity lost another £11.4million from its unrestricted funds in the year to August 2023 – that is before incurring any of the huge costs incurred in the closure of the Old Palace girls’ independent school.
This follows a £19.9million loss in the registered charity’s finances in 2022 – meaning that the Foundation’s unrestricted funds have fallen from £252million in 2017 to £197million in 2023 – 22% in six years.
According to an accountancy professional who has looked over the Whitgift Foundation’s annual report for 2022-2023 – filed with the Charity Commissioners last month – “With the costs associated with the closure process at Old Palace, it should reasonably be assumed that 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 will also be financially challenging years.”
Merchant banker: Trinity old boy Christopher Houlding has presided over years of multi-million-pound losses
The Whitgift Foundation is the Croydon property business which operates three (soon to be two) fee-paying schools, the almshouses and a care home, but which is haemorrhaging tens of millions of pounds a year because of the continuing delays over its £1billion property gamble to redevelop the town centre shopping area.
As Inside Croydon reported exclusively yesterday, former UBS merchant banker Christoper Houlding, a Foundation governor since 2021 and chair of the “Court of Governors” for the past nine years, is to stand down once his latest term in office is complete.
In light of the latest set of figures, Inside Croydon put a series of questions to the Foundation in respect of their performance, and their plans.
Eventually, a nameless “spokesperson for the Court of Governors” provided us with a statement. But very few answers.
“Having taken the very difficult but necessary decision to close Old Palace of John Whitgift School last year, the Foundation is well placed to deliver on its charitable objectives over the coming years,” they said. A reduction of 22% in its unrestricted funds in just six years would seem to contradict this assertion.
Hardtacks: figures from the charity’s own financial reports contradict the organisation’s claim that ‘the Foundation is well placed to deliver on its charitable objectives over the coming years’
“Trinity and Whitgift schools are both thriving and full, with trustees continuing to consider options for supporting girls’ education once Old Palace closes in 2025.
“The Foundation is currently being led by an excellent interim CEO while the recruitment process for a new permanent CEO is underway with a view to making an appointment in the autumn.” The “excellent interim CEO” is Emily Boynton, supposedly the charity’s head of human resources, whose job it was, presumably, to ensure that there was no 18-month hiatus between CEOs…
“The trustees receive professional advice in respect of all aspects of accounting and asset management in line with Charity Commission obligations. Established procedures are in place for recruiting trustees, who give freely of their time and expertise to ensure the Foundation continues to serve its many local beneficiaries well.” Serving local beneficiaries well, unless you happen to be a girl attending Old Palace school, that is.
Decline and fall: the Whitgift Foundation’s troubles have had a serious impact on the town centre
“When the current chairman’s term of office comes to an end, we will consider applications from both internal and external candidates in appointing a suitable successor.”
The Foundation failed to address directly the fall in unrestricted funds of £55million in six years.
The Foundation declined to answer our question of what is the budgeted costs of the closure of Old Palace School, which are likely to appear in the accounts for 2024 and 2025.
Nor did they answer our question about the reasons for Houlding and the governors’ lengthy delay in recruiting a replacement chief executive – the previous CEO went on long-term sick leave in May 2023 and retired last November. The recruitment ads did not appear until June this year.
The Foundation ignored our questions about it borrowing £70million to develop the Melville Avenue site of Old Palace’s pre-school and prep school, which it is now selling for a very modest £7.5million.
And there was no answer to our questions about the Foundation’s long, and increasingly troubled, business relationship with Westfield over the redevelopment of the Whitgift Centre shopping mall, something which has been at the core of the charity’s loss of income and resulting financial difficulties which ultimately forced it to close Old Palace.
Millions of pounds in rents from offices and commercial properties in a shiny new Croydon Westfield were meant to be landing in the Foundation’s coffers from 2017.
In every one of the Foundation’s published annual returns for the past six years, all signed off by Houlding, they have identified the same risk – “Development of the Whitgift Shopping Centre not commencing” – with the mitigation action being: “Regular meetings take place with the developer and other key parties to monitor progress”.
Figure it out: our table shows the decline in Foundation finances while Christopher Houlding has been chair of the Court of Governors
You have to wonder when the Whitgift Foundation will accept that their proposed “mitigation” has failed, and that they urgently need to try something different.
Take a look along the High Street and North End: Whitgift’s development blight has killed off a 135-year-old girls’ school, it is slowly suffocating the life out of Croydon town centre, and it could yet drag down the venerable, Elizabethan charity itself, employers of 850 people in and around the borough.
Whoever does get the CEO’s job, or takes over as chair of governors from Houlding, they are going to inherit one helluva in-tray.
Read more: Girls and teachers in tears as school prepares for closure
Read more: Houlding decided not to hang on at the failing Foundation
Read more: Foundation abandoned new school plan after taking £70m loan
Read more: Old Palace closure brought on by shaky Foundation finances
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Remember these declines in avaliable funding over the last few years have coincided with a period of high inflation so the losses in real terms are far higher than the money terms declines presented by the Foundation. If losses continue at the current rates after inflation in a couple of years time will see the unrestricted fund access drop to nearly half of it’s position in 2017. No doubt funds in investments and property will have grown over this time, but it is clear the Whitgift is now commencing a period of asset stripping to stay afloat. How deep into their rich asset base will they have to go. Closure of Old Palace was thought unthinkable. No doubt this ruthless organisation will look to sacrafice services and staff to entail it’s survival, but will it’s hold over the actions of the locality ever be the same again.
The Whitgift Foundation isn’t the only charity going through financial difficulties at the moment, another one is the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) which is currently looking at making around 6 million in savings by amongst other things cutting staff including blind/vi employees.
Income going to charities has reduced in part due to the recent economic situation, meaning that individual donations have probably dropped , the same applies to legacies. I would also guess that government grants have also decreased.
Returning to the point of the article the very predictable problem for the foundation was that it got into bed with an company that was far more powerful and therefore not capable of being influenced by the needs of the foundation or Croydon. If Wikipedia is to be believed, I know, I know, but sometimes it is accurate, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield revenue 5.4 billion, net income 1.1 billion euros. Date not given.
With hindsight perhaps the foundation would have been better off selling up completely.
If they can survive until the redevelopment is done their income should be secure shouldn’t it?
“Millions of pounds in rents from offices and commercial properties in a shiny new Croydon Westfield were meant to be landing in the Foundation’s coffers from 2017.”
The offices including 3 blocks and a tower above the Whitgift Centre seem to stand empty. I imagine that is a considerable loss of income. Not to mention the loss of footfall that used to symbiotically feed it’s retail offering. The closing of the Allders car park as well as the hermetic sealing of the Allders site itself will only accelerate the decline of the South end …
The Whitgift Foundation employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees in each band:
£60k to £70k – 127
£70k to £80k – 51
£80k to £90k – 16
£90k to £100k – 8
£100k to £110k – 1
£110k to £120k – 1
£150k to £200k – 3
£200k to £250k – 2
£250k to £300k – 2