Charity out of pocket after firm’s collapse

Swindon Scrapstore should have been paid more than £900 by the company, which folded in acrimonious circumstances a month ago. The charity provided chairs and desks for the enterprise, which was based at the Hawksworth Industrial Estate Northwood, which employed 65 apprentices and workers at the time it shut down, was in such a dire state it did not own a single piece of equipment or property and it took several weeks to find an administrator willing to take it on. Accountancy firm Chantrey Vellacott DFK informed the Scrapstore this week that it would not be given any of the money back. David Rewcastle, a trustee, said: “The bill started as £870 but late payments took that up to £939. “At this point in time we can ill-afford to lose the money, which would have gone back into our unrestricted reserves. “It is income which we will now have to generate from somewhere else. There is usually some amount of money generated by a liquidation, but we have received nothing.” The bad news has also come at a time when the Scrapstore may need to prepare for a move out of its premises at the Bridgemead Business Centre in Westmead. The charity’s activities include recycling and reusing waste materials from businesses. The furniture it provided to Northwood, based on the Hawksworth Trading Estate, included 50 ICT chairs. The company had been set up to provide opportunities for young people out of work, training or education. Workers were not paid in the week before it closed amid a web of accusations and counter-accusations between Northwood and its Birmingham-based NVQ provider, Skillsfinder UK, which has also gone into administration. The Swindon firm’s owner, James Jennings, said in the wake of the collapse that he had done all he could to save the company and find alternative employment for his staff. Chantrey Vellacott is also in the process of sending forms to former employees to make claims for redundancy payouts.