Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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A victim of cuts?

September 08 2010
CHAS Central London has closed, after long service to those in need of advice

CHAS Central London (CHAS CL) has gone into administration. The charity, which provided free and independent advice on housing and debt, has long supported homeless and badly housed people in London.

The credit crunch has forced many charities to shut down, however, according to one former member of staff, this was not the main reason for CHAS CL's closure.

Clive Nnamdi-Johnson, previously a debt and housing adviser at CHAS CL, told The Pavement: "From my point of view... it all came down to very poor management - financial and otherwise." According to Nnamdi-Johnson, staff at CHAS CL went into work on 28 May only to be met by two insolvency practitioners, who told them that the centre was closing and they had one hour to pack up and leave. "We found out that the trustees had been in contact with them and had requested that they close CHAS CL down," he added, "We didn't have any prior knowledge of this".

Nnamdi-Johnson is now director of Community Advice Service (CAS), a company he set up with a former CHAS CL colleague, to carry on the service CHAS CL previously provided. However, said Nnamdi-Johnson, the contracts CHAS CL had with service and housing providers effectively ended when it went into receivership, so CAS had to start afresh.

"Because we're familiar with the clients," he explained, "we're in the best position to ensure continuity of service. Some of them [the service and housing providers] have agreed to come with us, and we're still in the process of convincing the rest to come onboard.

"Unfortunately, it's not going to be an easy task because a lot of them are understandably aggrieved by what happened and the way they were left in limbo."

CHAS was initially founded in 1959, its name an acronym for the 'Catholic Housing Aid Society', and was one of the founders of Shelter and the Family Housing Association. CHAS CL became an independent charity in April 2003, and today there are CHAS centres across England. Each branch is a member of the Housing Justice Alliance of Advice Agencies.

Alison Gelder, director of Housing Justice, was on sabbatical leave when CHAS CL went into administration. She told us: "My speculation, because I haven't spoken to them [CHAS CL], would be that it's linked with the way housing advice is being funded on a fixed fee basis, per case. And you don't get the money until the case is finished."

"[Homeless] cases are more complex," Gelder explained, "they'll go on for longer and you can easily get into difficulties... The first thing you need to do is get people's paperwork in order, and with homeless people, this isn't the most easy thing in the world".

When asked whether, as Gelder suggested, a flawed funding process was to blame for the closure of CHAS CL, Nnamdi-Johnson said: "That's not necessarily the case, because what happened was CHAS [CL], in its last year of existence, was saddled with salary burden, more than we could manage... this was discussed on a number of occasions with the chief executive but nothing was done".

The Pavement was unable to get in contact with the chief executive of CHAS CL, Barry Stoyle; however, we spoke to Stuart Freeman who was director of advice services at CHAS CL from April 2003 to May 2009. Far from refuting all of Nnamdi-Johnson's comments, Freeman expressed his similar dismay at the way CHAS CL came to an end: "I was telephoned by Clive on the 28 May asking what the staff should do. I do not know why the staff were not informed. This, in my view, was an appalling way to treat staff, even though they had disputes with the management." In terms of the lack of notice and information provided to housing and service providers, he added: "Again I find this appalling, particularly as I was instrumental in gaining contracts with the funders".

When asked what he believes were the reasons behind the closure, Freeman said: "It was partly due to poor decisions having been made by the trustees, lack of new funding and staff continually at odds with the management and raising grievances which deflected from dealing with important issues."

Like Nnamdi-Johnson, Freeman believes that "the employment of a CEO at the salary figure paid, and fees paid to an employment agency contributed to the demise of CHAS CL." However," he added, "CHAS CL lost a number of contracts with funders prior to its demise because of complaints being made against the advisers over the level of service and general attitude".

Whatever the reasons behind CHAS CL's demise, the matter is still unresolved, with an administrator currently looking into the charity's finances. Amid all the confusion, the website continues to tell visitors "what we can do for you", though its grateful clients are long gone, forced to look elsewhere for support.

Goodbye, Rochester Row >
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