Future of Hartlepool Charity 'Uncertain' as Accounts Reveal More Payments Are Under Police Investigation...
Hartlepool Charity The Wharton Trust Paid Thousands for Work on Property It Did Not Own, Accounts Reveal....
Teesside & Durham Post Exclusive...
7th November 2026
The financial concerns surrounding a Hartlepool Charity have reportedly deepened, after its latest accounts revealed substantial financial write-offs, inadequate accounting records and uncertainty over whether the charity can continue in its present form.
The charity, which runs The Annexe community centre in Wharton Terrace Hartlepool, has disclosed that trustees have now taken professional advice about its future, including the possibility of transferring its activities and assets to another charity.
The accounts, which cover the year ending 31st December 2025 and were approved on 30th October 2026 state that no formal decision had been taken about a transfer. However, they contain an explicit warning of a “material uncertainty” which may cast significant doubt on the Trust’s ability to continue as a going concern.
Building payments under police investigation
Among the most concerning findings is said to be the disclosure that approximately £60,000 had been paid towards building costs during 2024 and 2025 & was, according to information received by trustees in 2026, not spent on property belonging to the charity.
Of that expenditure, its claimed £42,450 was paid in 2025 which had initially been recorded as an addition to the value of the Trust’s investment property.
That amount has now been written off and charged as expenditure against the Big Local Delivery restricted fund which financed it.
The accounts also identify £14,383 of building costs already charged as expenditure in 2024 and form part of the approximately £60,000 described in the financial report, rather than being additional to it.
Trustees say the building payments are now the subject of an ongoing police enquiry and that recovery is being pursued through the police and the charity’s insurers. No expected recovery has been recognised in the accounts as recently reported & seen by the Teesside & Durham Post...
The report states that trustees began investigating a number of transactions back in October 2025, when a member of the senior leadership team was suspended and subsequently resigned back in January 2026.
£20,000 written off after advances to linked company
A further £20,000 has been written off after the Wharton Trust says its been unsuccessful in its attempts to recover money advanced to the Hartlepool-based Lilyanne’s CIC. Separately, one of its directors, formally a trustee of the Wharton Trust reportedly reached a £1,500 out-of-court settlement with liquidators over allegations of misconduct relating to an earlier failed business.
According to the related-party disclosures, the trustee of the Wharton Trust was also a director of the company Lilyanne’s CIC when the advances were made.
Further reports show that £35,000 was advanced during 2024: £5,000 in April, £5,000 in May and £25,000 in October. Of that total, £15,000 was repaid in October 2024.
The remaining £20,000 was deemed irrecoverable and written off in 2025.
The accounts state that the advances were unsecured, with no formal agreement or repayment terms. They record that Lilyanne’s CIC was dissolved in November 2024.
Together, the building-cost write-off and the unpaid company advance total £62,450.
A further £3,276 was provided for interest on late payment of PAYE, bringing the year’s “other expenditure” to £65,726.
Grant funders now seeking repayments...
The Trust also reportedly faces possible demands to return a significant amount of grant funding following the scandal, with the report warning that £42,450 of Big Local funding used for the building expenditure could now be subject to a repayment demand.
Additionally, its claimed An employment tribunal claim lodged in January 2026 is also outstanding, with its outcome and potential financial not estimated at the time the accounts were produced. .
Accounting records had to be reconstructed...
Independent examiner, Ian Robertson of T R Partners Limited, tasked with going through the charities finances with a fine tooth comb reported significant concerns about the charity’s accounting.
His report states that adequate accounting records had not been maintained during the year and had to be reconstructed after the year end.
He also challenges the treatment of investment properties valued in the accounts at £534,014. These were recorded at historical cost rather than fair value, as required by the accounting standard cited in his report.
Figures for 2024 have also been restated to correct the allocation of restricted expenditure. Those corrections effectively changing how money is divided between funds but do not altering the charity’s overall funds or surplus for that year.
A surplus, but very limited available reserves...
Despite these concerns, the accounts for the troubled Hartlepool Charity failed to show an overall annual deficit.
Whilst Income fell from £519,784 to £450,160, expenditure totalled £391,287, leaving a surplus of £58,873.
Total funds stood at approximately £1.19 million. However, much of that value was said to be tied up in property and other fixed assets, while £198,559 was held in restricted funds.
Free reserves were £23,640, up from the restated £8,899 a year earlier, with the charity still needing to build reserves covering at least three months’ running costs, alongside redundancy and property resilience funds.
Community services continue as trustees now consider the future of the troubled charity...
The report says staff and volunteers have kept projects operating despite the difficulties, including youth provision, breakfast clubs, benefits advice, holiday activities and support for residents facing food and fuel poverty, with trustees claiming they've strengthened the board, sought outside advice and are now pursuing new funding arrangements..
The accounts also confirm that matters concerning the charities financial operations were reported to the Charity Commission, however in October 2026, it was recorded that the Commission had no open statutory inquiry or compliance case at that point.
The trustees’ report attributes financial difficulties over the previous two years to “poor financial judgement” although the police investigation currently underway has identified any person responsible for the charities financial crisis, as the future of the Wharton Trust looks to be uncertain...
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