Captain Tom Foundation ‘set to close'

The Captain Tom Foundation is set to close after a Charity Commission investigation being carried out into its finances and management is completed.

The revelation has emerged this week at an appeal hearing against the demolition of a spa and pool complex at the home of Hannah Ingram-Moore, the late Captain Tom Moore’s daughter.

Several media outlets are reporting that at the hearing her barrister Scott Stemp said the charity is “unlikely to exist” and “is to be closed down” following the regulator’s probe.

The charity has already closed its funding and donation channels amid the regulator’s investigation.

The Foundation was launched in June 2020 after Captain Moore attracted widespread publicity for his record-breaking fundraising efforts carrying out a sponsored walk during Covid lockdown. Captain Moore, who died at the age of 100 in February 2021, raised more than £38m for NHS Charities Together.

Following concerns over the charity’s management, the Charity Commission launched a probe into its administration, which it escalated to a statutory inquiry last year.

An arrangement between the charity and a company linked to Hannah Ingram-Moore, who was a trustee at the Foundation, and her husband Colin Ingram-Moore, around trademark rights for the name ‘Captain Tom’, were among concerns raised.

Hannah Ingram-Moore had also been hired as interim chief executive of the charity on a salary of £85,000 for a nine-month period, the regulator detailed.

Further allegations emerged in August when BBC Newsnight reported that she was paid thousands of pounds to help judge a charity award ceremony.

Also, this year it was alleged that Hannah Ingram-Moore had used the charity’s name to build the spa and pool complex at her home, which is the subject of this week’s appeal hearing.

She has also admitted during an interview on Talk TV this month to keeping £800,000 from books the late Captain Moore had written, despite suggestions that money from their sale would go to charity.

The Captain Tom Foundation has been contacted for comment.