UK Regulators Appoint Interim Managers at Barnabas Aid

The UK's Charity Commission steps in following the founder's recent death and whistleblower complaints about missing funds.

The Charity Commission of England and Wales has appointed interim managers at Barnabas Aid, removing the charity’s trustees from control amid an ongoing regulatory investigation.

Insert of Barnabas Aid Founder Patrick Sookhdeo

The commission announced June 19 it had appointed Edwina Turner and Catherine Gibbon of Anthony Collins LLP to serve as interim managers.

They will have four primary responsibilities: taking full control of the charity’s administration, assets, records, banking and governance; investigating historic decision-making and related-party agreements; protecting and recovering charity assets where necessary; and regularizing governance and reporting back to the Charity Commission.

In a statement published on its website, the ministry said it had sought the appointment of interim managers “to help oversee the disputed governance” of Barnabas Aid in the United Kingdom, adding that “change was needed at the board level.”

The appointment follows the 2024 suspension of Barnabas Aid founder Patrick Sookhdeo from his leadership role. Sookhdeo died in May at age 79, according to My Christian Daily.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that our chair of trustees, Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, has died and has gone to be with the LORD,” said TBF Trust, another charity for persecuted Christians that Sookhdeo founded.

Following whistleblower complaints in 2024, board members began raising questions about the management of the charity and its funds.

In a statement, Barnabas Aid acknowledged “serious and repeated contraventions of internal policies; policies that were established to ensure the proper distribution of charitable donations.”

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The ministry said the Sookhdeos were among those who failed to comply with the internal policies and created a “toxic work environment” that discouraged staff from voicing concerns.

The ministry also disclosed unexplained financial transactions. “We have also identified significant payments made to the founders — and to others close to them, including some board members and trustees — which cannot be readily explained,” the statement said. “Ample opportunity has been provided to the founders to explain those transactions, but sadly they have refused to cooperate.”

“We have let our supporters down, we have let the Lord down and we have let the suffering and persecuted Church down,” the statement added.

According to Barnabas Aid, the appointment of an Interim Manager “represents an important milestone in the long process of restoring confidence, strengthening governance and ensuring that the charity is equipped for the future. We look forward to working closely and constructively with the Interim Manager as part of our wider, global programme to Build Barnabas Back Better.”

Earlier this year, Barnabas Aid told MinistryWatch that it was committed to rebuilding trust and operating with full transparency moving forward.

The ministry hired Colin Bloom, a former British government official who had been retired for about a year, to lead the organization through its recovery. Bloom said he was called in to “bring order to a bit of chaos” and that the ministry’s leadership has since made a dramatic shift in direction.

Bloom said the ministry’s leadership has turned 180 degrees and is now committed to “transparency and excellence.”

“For donors and for donor funds, everything must be completely transparent,” Bloom emphasized, “and we’ve got nothing to hide.”

Another accountability and transparency step is being taken; Barnabas Aid has commissioned Christian Safeguarding Services (CSS) to conduct an “independent learning and culture review.”

According to the ministry, CSS has been given “complete freedom to identify witnesses, review evidence and pursue lines of inquiry wherever they lead,” adding that it has adopted a “go anywhere, ask anyone, ask anything” approach because it believes that “genuine accountability requires complete transparency.”

It plans to publish the findings of the review once it is completed.

While Barnabas Aid regrets that such a review is necessary, it also says that “failing to investigate serious safeguarding concerns would be a far greater failure.”

In the MinistryWatch database, Barnabas Aid International has a Financial Efficiency Rating of 2 out of 5 stars, an A Transparency Grade, and a Donor Confidence Score of 76 out of 100, placing it in the “Give With Confidence” category.

This article was updated with information from a statement by Barnabas Aid.

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