No charity here. Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter and her husband have been disqualified from being charity trustees amid an ongoing inquiry into the foundation set up in the war veteran’s name.
Hannah Ingram-Moore is disqualified for 10 years and Colin for eight years – meaning neither can be a trustee or hold a senior management role in any charity in England and Wales in that time period.
Despite the option to appeal, the family said they have made the “extremely difficult decision” not to do so, as the “profound emotional upheaval and financial burden make such a course of action untenable”.
The Captain Tom Foundation was set up in May 2020 after Sir Tom’s fundraising efforts in the first Covid-19 lockdown.
The foundation has been the subject of an investigation by the charity watchdog, amid concerns about its management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.
The Charity Commission opened a case into the foundation shortly after the 100-year-old died in 2021, and launched its inquiry in June 2022.
While the findings of that investigation have not yet been published, the Ingram-Moore family made public the news of their disqualification orders on Wednesday.
The family said they “fundamentally disagree” with the watchdog’s decision, and described the ongoing inquiry as having been a “harrowing and debilitating ordeal”, as well as voicing concerns that the commission’s investigations had become a “relentless pursuit”.
While the family complained that the disqualification “has been imposed without the conclusion of the statutory inquiry”, the commission said this is its general approach and is “good practice as it ensures that any representations made can be factored into the overall findings of the inquiry”.
The commission said the legal test for disqualification had been met because there was “misconduct and/or mismanagement, the individuals are not fit to be a trustee or hold senior management functions and disqualification is in the public interest”.
No timeline has been given for when the inquiry might conclude or when the findings might be published.
No charity here.
