James Sleight and Peter Hart of PKF Littlejohn Advisory have been appointed Joint Liquidators of the British Youth Council (BYC) following a creditors’ meeting on Friday 26 April.
PKF Littlejohn Advisory had been appointed to assist the Trustees of the BYC to place the charity into a Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL) in March.
BYC’s well-publicised demise was accelerated by the February 2024 collapse of The Body Shop (TBS), a major funder, which had contributed significantly to the BYC’s running costs, and the decision by other funding partners not to renew their funding because of the challenging economic environment. In addition to private funding, BYC also received public support by way of a grant from The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The Council’s cashflow challenges began to crystalise at the end of 2023 when an expected £36,000 from TBS failed to materialise and the Board recognised that income generation was not going to recover before the year end.
BYC’s Trustees had been trying to address funding issues for some time. This was further exacerbated, however, by the demise of TBS. Joint Liquidator, James Sleight, says the Trustees did the right thing by seeking help early and exhausting all avenues to maintain BYC as a going concern: “Unfortunately, and despite reasonable prospects to return the charity to a solvent position, when further support from major funders failed to materialise, the decision was taken to place the charity into a CVL. Now, after a creditors’ meeting, the charity will be wound up.”
The nature of the organisation means that outstanding debts are comparatively low in value and two creditors account for 30% of the total debt. Lack of tangible assets means that creditors are unlikely to see a dividend, although there is potential value in the sale of intangible assets including the brand which may also enable some form of the charity’s valuable work to continue in the future. The Joint Liquidators are exploring all options in this regard.
As part of the Liquidation process, the BYC’s 17 employees, have been made redundant. The Joint Liquidators have been assisting employees with their claims for government compensation.
Any creditor queries should be directed to byc@pkf-l.com.
