Kids Company founder denies responsibility for charity’s collapse

Camila Batmanghelidjh, the founder of defunct charity Kids Company, has resolutely denied blame for the charity’s collapse and has defended its conduct in the process.

Speaking on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, Batmanghelidjh denied to take responsibility for the Kids Company crisis, but said she instead felt “extreme sorrow at the fact the children suffered in this way.”

However, when asked if her and her team were responsible for the closure of the charity, she said: “We were not responsible for the closure of Kids Company. Not at all, and I’m being absolutely clear about that.”

The charity, which looked after vulnerable children in London, Bristol and Liverpool, received around £43m in public funding over 12 years, and accepted a final £3m just a few days before the charity collapsed. The charity was funded by both private donors and taxpayer money.

In a previous interview, Batmanghelidjh said she was told of plans to transform the charity into something similar to Childline (the NSPCC hotline that received government funding), back in 2014.

However, she said it didn’t happen because “politicians change their story and then they run”.

A report by the Public Accounts Committee claimed the amount of public money donated to Kids Company during its lifetime was “staggering” and the charity’s management showcased a “failed experiment”.

When asked by Victoria Derbyshire if she would like to apologise to the taxpayers and the people who donated to the charity, Batmanghelidjh said: “I don’t think we wasted money, why are you assuming we wasted money?”

“That is not to say I don’t feel deep sorrow for what happened to the children and the fact that our self-employed staff were not paid. I loved our donors and I have massive respect for them. Without them, kids company would not have achieved what it achieved.

“But I refuse to play the caricature that is being created with the media creating a false story and then forcing me into an apology.”

Shortly before the charity collapsed, the Charity Commission opened an inquiry, which is still ongoing.