Captain Tom Foundation income plummets, accounts show

Captain Sir Tom Moore became famous for his NHS fundraising efforts during the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020

A watchdog's intervention into the Captain Tom Foundation had a "massive adverse impact" on fundraising, the charity's latest accounts show.

It was set up by the family of the NHS fundraiser soon after he died in 2021.

Income had been over £1m for the 2021 financial year, but fell to £402,854 from June 2021 to November 2022.

The Charity Commission launched an inquiry last year after identifying concerns about the charity's management and independence from Sir Tom's family.

At the time, the foundation said it would "work closely" with the inquiry.

Captain Sir Tom Moore became famous during the first coronavirus lockdown when he raised £38m for NHS charities by walking 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden, before turning 100.

The foundation was set up by his family soon after he died to raise money for causes the military veteran believed in.

Its latest accounts, published on Wednesday, showed that for nine months from August 2021 to April 2022, Sir Tom's daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, received a gross salary of £63,750 in her role as interim chief executive officer.

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The Charity Commission had consented to an annual salary of £85,000.

She also received £7,602 in expense payments for travel and administration, between June 2021 and November 2022.

Hannah Ingram-Moore started the Captain Tom Foundation after her father's death in 2021

Payments of just over £24,000 were also made for office rental and telephone costs to Maytrix Group Limited - a company controlled by Ms Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin.

The foundation spent nearly £180,000 on staffing costs during the period, including wages, social security costs and pensions. It employed on average two people in that time.

The charity stated its work was "entirely reliant on donations" and that while its total income had been just over £1m for the 2021 financial year, it less than halved between June 2021 to November 2022.

The accounts stated that the Charity Commission's launch of its statutory inquiry had "a massive adverse impact on the charity, our ability to raise new funds and to deliver operational activities".

This summer, the foundation stopped taking money from donors after planning chiefs at Central Bedfordshire Council ordered that an unauthorised spa pool block at Ms Ingram-Moore's home should be demolished.

The family objected to the enforcement notice and an appeal against the order has been set for a hearing next month.

The spa (the C-shaped building to the right of the pond) is at the home where Capt Sir Tom Moore walked 100 laps of the garden in 2020, raising £33m for NHS Charities Together

In a statement posted to Ms Ingram-Moore's verified Instagram account on Thursday, she said no charity money had been used in the construction of the new building in the grounds of her family's home.

She added that she had not been involved in the foundation "in any capacity" since April 2022, and had not made any payments from the charity's bank account during her time as interim chief executive.

She said her husband remained a family trustee of the foundation and had never had access to the charity's bank account.

All of the £38.9m raised in April 2020 from her father's walk had been given directly to NHS charities and the family "have never been involved in any discussion or decision on this disbursement", she said.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: "Our ongoing statutory inquiry into the Captain Tom Foundation is investigating concerns about the charity's financial management and governance, to establish whether there has been unauthorised benefit to current or previous trustees, whether conflicts of interest have been identified and managed, and whether the trustees more generally have complied with their legal duties and responsibilities."

"We will publish the findings of the inquiry once it has concluded."