Charity watchdog probes City of Culture findings

The Charity Commission has said it is reviewing "further information" about the collapse of the charity behind Coventry City of Culture.

It comes after a BBC investigation found evidence of internal failures at the trust.

Documents seen by the BBC have shown costly accounting errors had a major role in the collapse of the charity that ran Coventry's year as City of Culture in 2021.

The mistakes were blamed on "incompetence" and a "failure of governance" during meetings of trust bosses and triggered a £1m bailout funded by Coventry City Council. The trust then fell into administration months later.

The £1m loan was never paid back and the trust left £4.2m in unpaid debts, including huge losses for a producer of the Edinburgh Fringe, Culture Coventry, the Albany Theatre and Coventry University.

Dozens of staff were also made redundant and a two-year programme to boost the city's cultural scene was scrapped.

The Charity Commission has been investigating the trust's collapse since 2023 but there are now calls for a full statutory inquiry with more legal powers to investigate what happened, following the publication of the BBC's investigation.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission told the BBC: "I can confirm that our regulatory compliance case remains open while we continue to review the further information provided against our findings so far."

The leader of Warwickshire County Council, Reform UK's George Finch, has joined calls for a full inquiry to be launched.

He said: "I think it's very disappointing that a great event like the Coventry City of Culture has found itself in some terrible financial situation now. There are so many questions that need to be answered, I do believe that there should be an inquiry into this."

He said he also sought transparency over the city council's dealings with the charity.

"Transparency and accountability are so important, especially when this meant so much to the people of Coventry so we just have to define what actually happened."

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