Top UK charity’s £350K debts to National Lottery and Amazon

The list of company creditors for Auditory Verbal UK has been published after the charity announced it was closing in May.

Based in Kirtlington Road, Chesterton, Bicester, the organisation described itself as the “leading provider of Auditory Verbal therapy in the UK”, aiming to ensure all deaf children have the same opportunities in life as their hearing peers.

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However, over 20 years since it was set up, it has found it impossible to continue and announced its closure in a statement on its website.

A spokesperson said: “Like many charities, AVUK has been operating in an increasingly challenging and turbulent environment for some time.

“Over recent months, despite strong progress pursing our strategy and continued delivery of high quality, life changing support, the financial pressures facing the charity have intensified to a point where it is no longer possible for us to operate sustainably. 

Radio Two DJ Sara Cox presented a BBC Lifeline appeal for the charity in 2018 (Image: AVUK)

“We understand that the speed of this closure may come as a shock.

“This has been an incredibly difficult decision, taken with the greatest care for the families, professionals and supporters who have placed their trust in AVUK over the years.”

In its latest company accounts the organisation listed 30 employees, all of whom will have lost their jobs.

In addition it noted creditors falling within a year worth £433,557 although the company’s recently released ‘statement of affairs’ said its creditors were £349,309 in total.

Bicester-based charity Auditory Verbal stars in BBC One appeal with radio presenter Sara Cox. pictured is Kurran Doal, 15 (Image: AVUK)

The new documents also listed the businesses that Auditory Verbal owed money to.

Among the major names mentioned are Amazon (owed £476) and the National Lottery Community Fund (owed £2,062).

In addition Auditory Verbal was £83,426 in debt to the tax man HMRC and £12,815 in debt to Lloyds Bank.

Victoria Prentis visited the charity shop yesterday (Image: GOV)

First Voice Australia, a charity focused on deaf people down under, is owed £1,059.30 while Ovingdean Hall, a school for deaf children, is owed £7,800.

Other major creditors include Liechtenstein based charity MariaMarina Foundation (owed £29,768), Hargreaves Foundation (owed £22,927) and Fidelity UK Foundation (£47,916).

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On the children it helped, the charity said in its statement it was working to ensure alternate provisions were made.

The spokesperson added: “This work has been made possible by the extraordinary generosity of individuals, families, trusts, foundations and partners who believe deeply in our mission, and we are hugely grateful.”

Over recent years it was part of an appeal headed by BBC radio presenter Sara Cox and was visited by former Banbury MP Victoria Prentis.

In 2017 it organised a ‘Loud Shirt Day’, supported by Bicester Town Mayor Les Sibley, for which it asked people to wear novelty ties, garish tops and hazardously bright hats from the back of the wardrobe to ‘wear it loud’.