Defunct charity telemarketing agency GoGen – which worked for Oxfam, Save the Children and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity – owes almost £2m to creditors, according a new report from its administrator.
GoGen, which launched in 2000, was at the centre of a raft of claims made by the Daily Mail, based on an undercover reporter working for the agency.
The newspaper alleged that GoGen staff regularly phoned those registered with the Telephone Preference Service, as well as vulnerable people who were suffering from dementia.
The company went into administration following the uproar over its fundraising practices, with the loss of 485 jobs, although former director Giuseppe Iantosca claimed the media coverage was “misleading”.
According figures from administrator BDO – seen by Third Sector magazine – HSBC Bank, a secured creditor, was owed £724,426 at the date of administration.
Some 272 of the company’s 485 staff have “preferential claims” over holiday pay, arrears of pay and pension schemes. In total they are owed about £194,000. Unsecured creditors have lodged about £1.1m in claims.
BDO said that after payment of preferential claims, the company’s net property should be worth £310,000, meaning the maximum available for unsecured creditors is £65,000. The administrator’s charge is already £221,590, which has not been drawn.
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