Mr S Gasson
Charity Commission
By email
: request-541855-
PO Box 211
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Bootle
L20 7YX
Your ref:
Our ref: C-491217
Date: 22 January 2019
Dear Mr Gasson,
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Thank you for your request for information, which I have dealt with under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
You have asked whether the Commission has been consulted by or given advice to:
(a)
the Trust
(b)
the charity
(c)
charity members
(d)
any of the current or past trustees
(e)
any other NHS or Department of Health body particularly in light of their Kings
Research Partner Kings College Hospital going into financial special
measures.
Regarding:
(a)
why the NHS trust no longer has charitable status;
(b)
the legality of that decision to separate from the trust;
(c)
disparity in terms of membership numbers;
(d)
whether the trust and charity made or makes it possible for inpatients to be
members during their care and how it helps them, including access to legal
resources to challenge decisions by trust staff using the Mental Health Act to
enforce medication on them while inwards and not to discharge them from wards.
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Has advice been sought from, or supplied by, the Commission considering the charity
acting in the best interests of beneficiaries in terms of:
(a)
different process over time of how staff, in-patients, patients and the
general public are able to become and apply for membership;
(b)
how it invites them to join but also the community it serves to take part in such a
decision, including the Commission, other regulators, funders, local councils and
the Department of Health;
(c)
how much the charity spends in terms of beneficiaries and any
confusion that exists between how it perceives patients, in-patients,
general public and current trust staff and those that have left follow a
complaint or investigation regarding patients;
(d)
where projects like Healthlocker are discontinued, whether funding
schemes deliver real long term benefit to the charity and beneficiaries,
how beneficiaries are involved in decisions and can influence things,
and are appropriately reported on and monitored;
(e)
(how) income from the charities assets is charged, calculated and
collected eg relating to Ortus, or how intellectual property from its
research programme is owned and helps support in-patients and
patients and patients and in-patients are involved in the decisions
regarding spending and funded programmes;
(f)
the long term viability of the Trust or charity in light of Kings financial
special measures, liabilities in terms of insurance claims or legal action or as a
result of medication, safeguarding failures or criminal action by trust staff or police
investigations.
By way of background, the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (the NHS
Trust) does not hold charitable status and never has.
In 1996, a charity was registered under number 1055440. It was called South London
and Maudsley NHS Trust Charitable Funds, and subsequently changed its name to
Maudsley Charity. The NHS Trust (as corporate body) was the trustee of this charity. The
charity was removed from the register on 12 November 2018.
A new charity (registered number 1175877) with the same name, Maudsley Charity, was
registered on 22 November 2017 and received the funds and assets of 1055440. It has
been set up as a charitable company and you will be able to find a copy of its
Memorandum and Articles on the Companies House website. Rather than the NHS Trust
acting as corporate trustee, individuals have been appointed as directors/trustees of the
charity. You can see more details on the register of charities on the Commission website -
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/RegisterHomePage.a
spx.
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The Commission did engage with the charity regarding the removal of 1055440, the setting
up of 1175877 and the transfer of assets. The Commission does not hold any further
information relevant to your request.
If you think our decision is wrong, you can ask for it to be reviewed. Such requests should
be submitted within three months of the date of our response and should be addressed to
the Charity Commission at PO Box 211, Bootle, L20 7YX (email:
xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx). More information about our Freedom of Information
Act review service can be found on the following link on our website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission/about/complaints-
procedure. If, after this, you remain unhappy with the decision, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a
decision unless you have exhausted our review procedure. The ICO can be contacted at
the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF (email
: xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx.) Yours sincerely,
Lucy Breakspere
Information Rights and Complaints Manager
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