The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to run William Blake House, a specialist care home for adults with learning disabilities in Northamptonshire, after families raised concerns about its management, including £1m in payments to a trustee. The home faces potential insolvency in three weeks due to a winding-up order from HMRC over £1.6m in unpaid tax bills.
The move, which sidelines the current board of trustees, follows a campaign by families whose adult children live at the home. They discovered the charity's precarious finances last autumn and gained political traction after the Guardian reported on the scale of the concerns in February. Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey accused a trustee of 'embezzlement' during Prime Minister's Questions.
William Blake House is one of only a few specialist residential homes in England for adults with profound and complex learning disabilities, where residents are mostly non-verbal and need round-the-clock support. The families have proposed setting up a non-profit company to manage the home, aiming to preserve its therapeutic approach based on Rudolf Steiner's teachings.
Davey has arranged a meeting between the families and HMRC next week to discuss delaying the winding-up order until a new organisation can take over. 'We're very relieved an independent manager has been appointed,' the families said in a statement. 'Now we have to move quickly to secure the future for our loved ones.'
A cross-party letter from nine MPs, organised by local Conservative MP Sarah Bool, urged the commission to consider the families' proposals, describing them as 'the most sustainable path forward'. Trustee Bushra Hamid welcomed the commission's intervention, calling it 'an excellent decision to progress matters in the best interests of the organisation and mission'.
