Captain Tom Moore’s charity ‘tried to give his daughter a six-figure salary’

A charity in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore has come under fire from a watchdog for trying to appoint his daughter as CEO on a six-figure salary, according to reports.

The Captain Tom Foundation has been blocked by the Charity’s Commission from appointing the late fundraiser’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, as CEO with a salary of ‘one-tenth’ of the first year’s annual income, claims The Independent .

Now the organization is the subject of a regulatory compliance case after its accounts showed it had already paid “tens of thousands of pounds” to companies run by the late veteran’s daughter and son-in-law.

The Broadsheet reported that in May 2020, after the former army officer raised £39million for NHS charities, the charity wanted to pay around £150,000 for the role.

This figure represents more than 13% of the total £1.15million the Captain Tom Foundation received in its first year as an established charity.

But the proposal to make Mrs. Ingram-Moore CEO would have been made by directors without a recruitment competition.

The Charities Commission intervened last summer after being contacted by the Foundation.

Now the Foundation has told The Independent that Ms Ingram-Moore has made the decision ‘the role of CEO is not something she wishes to pursue’ so she can focus on other commitments.

The £150,000 salary is comparable to the highest salary of the RSPCA, which paid a maximum of £150,007 to a person last year.

Industry publication, Third Sector ranked the animal rescue charity 98th in its list of the 100 highest earning charities.

But the organization still raked in a total income of £142m, about 3.6 times more than that of the Captain Tom Foundation.

Ms Ingram-Moore, who spoke about setting up the foundation, was appointed trustee of the charity on February 1, 2021, but stepped down on March 15, according to the accounts.

Her husband, Colin, was appointed trustee on the same date and remains in office as the family’s representative.

At the time, the couple formally sought permission for their appointments under Charities Commission rules which state that directors or ‘connected’ people must seek written consent from the watchdog before being employed by the ‘charity.

When The Independent approached the Foundation for comment, the newspaper says the organization initially appeared to deny the six-figure salary had been offered.

Stephen Jones, Chairman of the Board, said: “The decision to seek consent to appoint Hannah Ingram-Moore in a temporary role as interim CEO has been made by the independent directors who have undertaken an exercise benchmarking to assess an appropriate salary. for the role.

“All discussions with the Charity Commission are highly confidential, but your reference to a ‘six-figure salary’ is categorically denied.”

When reminded that an initial request to appoint Ms Ingram-Moore as CEO, rather than an interim position, had already been seen, the newspaper asked if Mr Jones if the organization denied having requested permission from the Charity Commission to appoint her as CEO. .

They “ostensibly” refuted this claim and another comment was published by the foundation.

It read: “In 2021, the foundation approached the commission to seek consent (as required by law and the foundation’s governing document) regarding the appointment of Hannah Ingram-Moore as CEO.

“As part of this consent process, the directors undertook a formal benchmarking exercise to assess an appropriate salary for the role.

“This report made recommendations to trustees as to an appropriate salary (within a range) based on a range of charities operating with equivalent financial positions and charitable activities.

“This was provided to the commission as part of the consent request, in the interest of full disclosure, along with a proposal from the directors as to what the salary for the role of CEO should be.

“It is the commission’s responsibility to review and challenge any request for consent, but in any event, during the directors’ discussions with the commission, Hannah Ingram-Moore made the determination that the role of CEO n It wasn’t something she wanted to pursue the way she wanted. focus on other commitments, both personal and professional.

“However, she has undertaken to support the trustees for an interim period, subject to obtaining the consent of the commission.

“On this basis, the commission supported and gave the directors its formal consent that Hannah Ingram-Moore be appointed as interim CEO from August 2021 for a defined period of nine months.

“The directors have reviewed their salary considerations as part of the discussions with the commission, before making a decision on what that salary should be.

“This salary will of course be disclosed as required in the accounts for the relevant period but is categorically not six figures.

“The directors are, as agreed with the commission, in the process of undertaking an open recruitment process to identify and recruit a CEO.

“The details about that and the role and salary expectations are public knowledge.

“That process is ongoing, but regardless, Hannah Ingram-Moore will be stepping down as interim CEO at the end of April and the directors are grateful for her support during this time.”

In December 2021, a document seen by the Independent describes a “nomination package” for the CEO role of Ms Ingram-Moore with a stated salary of £55,000-£60,000, it reports.

The Charities Commission launched its compliance case against the foundation in March last year, but would not comment on the matter beyond the public statement it made at the time.

A spokesperson for the commission said: “We have been in constant contact with the administrators of the Captain Tom Foundation on its set-up and governance arrangements and as part of this work we will now assess the accounts recently submitted by the charity.”

Ms Ingram-Moore’s personal website – which describes her as ‘one of Britain’s leading businesswomen’ – listed her as the ‘founder and CEO’ of the Captain Tom Foundation, but that was later changed to “Founder and Interim CEO”.

Ms Ingram-Moore’s Linkedin profile says she is the “voice of the Captain Tom Foundation”.