Camila Batmanghelidjh: Kids Company ‘stuck to budget’ and I will not say sorry for its demise

The founder of the now defunct charity said the wider issue of children’s neglect in the UK does not come down to whether one child used a cash handout to buy trainers

Camila Batmanghelidjh said apologising for 'one single thing at a time' would not solve the UK's system of child neglect (BBC)

Camila Batmanghelidjh has insisted that former charity Kids Company “stuck to its budget” and said she will not apologise to taxpayers for its demise.

Ms Batmanghelidjh defended herself on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour from a barrage of accusations, including that she “mesmerized” Prime Minister David Cameron for more funding, that she handed out cash to her young clients who spent the money on drugs and expensive trainers and that one client was sent to a day spa.

Ms Batmanghelidjh was responding in the interview to a report by the House of Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee in February which criticised her relationship with the government.

The founder of the now defunct charity raised £164.3 million over 19 years, and received £4 million a year from central government, but she insisted that the number of “desperate families” at their door was enormous, which kept the charity running on a “knife edge” from day one.

“People think that this money [from the Goverment] was given almost like a gift or a favour, but the truth is this money was very important as it was doing very important work with the children and families,” she said.

The charity folded in July last year, despite securing millions of funding for the following year, after accusations were made of sexual and physical abuse by charity workers. The claims were revealed to be unfounded.

Nevertheless, the charity’s demise laid off at least 650 staff and left thousands of vulnerable and unstable children and young adults without support.

Ms Batmanghelidjh was questioned about learning the important lesson of "staying within budget".

“We were within budget,” replied Ms Batmanghelidjh. ”Every year we came within budget. I just didn’t raise enough money. That is the problem. For 19 years I managed to raise enough money so that our expenditure and the amount of money I raised matched. I didn’t raise enough to be able to generate reserves. But for the final year I knew we were going to struggle."

Ms Batmanghelidjh and her trustees had been described as “negligent”. She was accused of handing out cash payments to many children, some of whom spent the money on expensive trainers, drugs, and one client was sent to Champneys' spa.

Around 3,000 children received monetary support in the form of travel passes, food vouchers and cash, said Ms Batmanghelidjh.

She explained a male client was sent to a spa because the NHS hospital would not accept him. He was “psychotic” and needed to be moved somewhere safe immediately which had a nurse and a doctor.

She added that she was "incredibly sorry" for the children and staff that were affected when the charity closed, and blamed the "malicious media".

“The collapse of Kids Company was the result of multiple and complex issues and I don’t want to apologise for a single thing at a time because then I’ve almost given people an explanation they will be happy with and we don’t have to be stained with the complexity of what has happened.”

“It wasn’t about trainers - because the whole expenditure on children’s clothes, that was about £60,000 - that didn’t make or break the organisation,” she said.