Two former trustees of a troubled south Manchester charity have been banned from senior management roles in charitable organisations.
Hartley Hanley and Mike Bisson have been banned from being trustees or senior managers of any charity for seven years following a Charity Commission investigation which found the pair 'are responsible for persistent and prolonged failures in the management' of Moss Side and Hulme Community Development Trust.
Formed in 2002 to support regeneration in areas of deprivation, it failed to submit annual accounts in 2015 and again in 2016, prompting an inquiry by the Charity Commission which concluded in November 2020 that the trust should undergo an overhaul of its systems and ordered that there should be 'no further unauthorised trustee remuneration'.
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A previous Charity Commission report found that £56,000 had been paid to 'trustee A' in the three years up to August 2015 'for acting as CEO of the charity'.
"The charity’s governing document prohibits payments of this nature without the prior approval of the commission and no such approval had been obtained," said the report.
Following the commission's latest investigation into the trust, Hartley Hanley and Mike Bisson failed to file a progress report and provided 'little engagement' when quizzed by Charity Commission officials during 2021, according to a new report.
The report said the charity's 'beneficiaries' complained no annual general meeting had been called and the Charity Commission 'opened a further statutory inquiry' into the charity's trustees - its third into the organisation - in September 2021.
The charity's stated aim was to have at least four trustees but the new investigation found it had not had enough trustees since 2009. The trust now has five trustees.
The Charity Commission used its powers to install three new directors during its latest investigation and they removed Mr Hanley as a trustee while Mr Bisson resigned ahead of an annual general meeting which was eventually held in March.
Following its latest investigation into the trust, the regulator concluded that Mr Hanley’s and Mr Bisson’s 'failure to comply' with commission orders and their 'persistent and prolonged failures amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of this charity'.
Each has been banned from acting as a trustee for seven years.
Following the ruling, Charity Commission head of investigations, Amy Spiller, said: "Trustees of charities should show accountability towards the communities they serve, and the wider public. This includes complying with an order of the commission.
"Mr Hanley and Mr Bisson are responsible for persistent and prolonged failures in the management of this charity. We have taken robust regulatory action to ban these individuals from serving as trustees or senior managers in any charity for seven years. I hope that the new trustee board can deliver on the charity’s aims for the people of Moss Side and Hulme."
The M.E.N. has approached the charity, based in the Windrush Millenium Centre on Alexandra Road in Moss Side, for a comment.
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