James Anderson, who runs Depher CIC - a social enterprise - has had his British Citizen Award rescinded following a BBC investigation.
Once dubbed Britain's “kindest plumber”, he has admitted to making “mistakes” that caused harm to the families of vulnerable people whose pictures were used numerous times without permission on social media.
In a social media posts, there was an image of a dead woman, whom Depher falsely claimed it had saved from suicide but in fact, she had died years earlier. There was also an image of a domestic abuse victim pictured with her young child and baby, whom Anderson accused of theft without evidence.
Anderson has also been accused by the BBC of spending company money on items such as a car and a £73,125 house occupied by a member of his extended family.
In another case, Depher CIC had posted an image of a woman with her face blacked out, claiming she had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
She was identified by the BBC from previous Depher posts, leading Anderson to admit the post was “a lie”. He vowed to investigate how it was sent from his company’s Twitter account.
Anderson denied some of the allegations, though he has apologised to the victims and said it “will never happen again”.
“I’m not going to stop. A lot of people hate us, but we're going to continue. There are still people who need us and can’t get support from anywhere else. If we decide to shut up shop, where will that put those people who can’t get help?” he said.
Anderson added: “I’m going to continue working at Depher, I’ll be one of the directors but I’m going to get other directors in.”
A spokeswoman from the British Citizen Awards said information which had come to light about Mr Anderson's actions did not “align with our values”, adding: “We pride ourselves in recognising individuals across the UK who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a positive impact on their communities and charities.”
Regarding the purchases of a house and car using company cash, Mr Anderson said: “As a CIC, we’re allowed to have a company car. We use it to pick up customers and drop them off if they can’t get home.
“We didn’t buy [the house] with donations but with residual profits. The tenant is from my extended family. The CIC regulator is aware of this. When the tenant moves, which they will, it’s going to be turned into a homeless shelter or house for people coming out of domestic violence. The CIC regulator is happy with this.
“Everything we do with the CIC regulator, who is the only person we answer to, we’ve done right.”
An investigation is now underway with The Fundraising Regulator into Depher Community Interest Company (CIC) to “determine whether or not its fundraising has breached sections of the Code of Fundraising Practice”.
Its four key values are that fundraising must be legal, open, honest, and respectful.
The Charity Commission also confirmed it denied three applications from Depher CIC to become a charity.
Who is James Anderson?
Mr Anderson had become a viral sensation during the UK’s cost-of-living crisis and the company received at least £2m in donations.
Celebrities such as the singer Lily Allen and Emmerdale actress Samantha Giles reportedly donated, as well as actor Hugh Grant who gave £75,000.
Cash donations doubled to more than £1.2m from April 2021 to April 2023. And the company had more than £643,000 in cash in April 2023.
Mr Anderson has received letters of thanks from the late Queen and the King and a Pride of Manchester award. He has also been a guest on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, The One Show, Sky News and the Russell Howard Show.
Depher CIC posted hundreds of stories online about its work providing free plumbing services to elderly and disabled people, as well as helping to pay for food, gas, and electricity bills for people in need throughout the years.
Talking about the posts, Mr Anderson said: “I don’t know how that happened. That shocked me.”
He also pledged to return some of the donated money.
