It's been almost two years since I went undercover with a hidden camera and got a job as a door-to-door charity rep for a mysterious company in Cardiff. After we revealed it was exploiting people, the office shut down, and we would later show similar cult-like methods were being used on a much wider scale — but recent events cast doubt over how much the charity sector has really learned.
By "recent events" I'm referring to three things, two of which reflect terribly on the two charities, and one of which calls into question whether the UK's fundraising watchdog is fit for purpose. But first, a quick recap on what has happened since April 2023 when I started work at the Vantage and Solution sales office in central Cardiff.
Many of the office's door-to-door reps were in a dire financial situation as they worked 12 to 15 hours a day, six or seven days a week, with no guarantee of a minimum wage, having been promised that if they put in the right effort they would inevitably be able to open their own office and become extremely rich. They were also taught how to "trick" and pressure people into signing up for direct debits to charities — namely, the National Deaf Children's Society and SOS Children's Villages.
When we confronted the two charities they stopped using that network of sales offices. But we later found both charities, and several others, were using the door-to-door and street marketing services of a separate, much larger network which used similarly exploitative tactics across around 100 UK offices. This network also had a Cardiff office, BMGroup, which shut down in September 2023 after we challenged it over young reps working frighteningly long hours, very-rarely hitting minimum wage, and facing humiliating forfeits if they lost sales challenges. The wider network remains active and is closely linked to a US-based direct sales firm, Credico, which last year made £373.4m in global revenue.
What about the three recent developments I mentioned? The first is that we can reveal the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) is ignoring guidance that reps should be paid at least the national living wage, despite this being one of the most crucial recommendations from the Fundraising Regulator inquiry sparked by our reporting. That inquiry had correctly identified why people were being pressured into donations — at root, it came down to the desperation of reps who weren't making ends meet because of their commission-only pay.
The importance of this seems lost on NDCS, which has told us some reps "sign up for commission-based pay" and that "the national living wage wouldn't be guaranteed, though there is the potential to earn significantly more than this". It's worth remembering that this charity (which last year spent £13m on fundraising) has repeatedly been shown how such a model has led to its own reps and vulnerable donors being treated appallingly. The depth at which NDCS has buried its head in the sand is almost impressive.
The second issue is over the Fundraising Regulator itself. To its credit, the watchdog did launch an inquiry after we went undercover and went on to publish a 36-page report with "robust advice" to prevent such exploitation happening again. But separately to that sector-wide inquiry, the regulator also launched investigations specifically into NDCS and SOS. And in the 20 months since those investigations started, there is no hint of when they will conclude.
We understand the regulator's resources are stretched bare, with just nine staff handling 15 active investigations. What's more, it has no statutory enforcement powers and gets its funding from a voluntary levy on the very charities it investigates. (A watchdog which does have enforcement powers, the Charity Commission, is also probing the same two charities off the back of our reporting, but it says the Fundraising Regulator is taking the lead.)
Third — and perhaps the bleakest sign of regulatory toothlessness — is that SOS Children's Villages has started using the services of Credico again. This is quite the move, given the charity — which says its aim is to protect children who don't have parental care — previously told us it was "utterly appalled" by the "disgusting working culture" at Cardiff's BMGroup, one of the offices in Credico's subcontracting network. Credico distanced itself from the cult-like practices at that "independent" office, but we later revealed disturbing pressure-selling tactics and training methods were being circulated by Credico itself and by one of its most senior "consultants", Justin Cobb, who was filmed screaming vile abuse at reps as well as boasting about manipulating them into accepting commission-only jobs with no minimum wage.
Our reporting led to SOS suspending its relationship with the firm last July. But by October the charity was again using Credico's fundraising arm, Gather Campaigns, which just months earlier we had caught training reps on making it "hard to say no" to setting up direct debit donations, and how to "assume the yes". The charity claimed it was satisfied "all required standards" were being met. But has Credico actually learned any lessons?
There has been nothing to suggest a shred of remorse or reflection from Credico in its bullish emails to us over the last couple of years, never once apologising to the people manipulated by its network of subcontracting offices. The firm refuses to tell us if it still works with "consultant" Justin Cobb, who has personally received commission from the earnings of UK offices in the network, and whose training methods include yelling at reps when they "complain and bitch" after working 70 hours a week. Despite on the one hand distancing itself from those training videos and claiming Cobb was an independent business owner, Credico also tried to stop us publishing the videos by citing copyright. (You can watch the footage here.)
The firm's only allusion to the scandal came in last year's accounts, which showed a drop in UK revenue from £24.7m to £21.8m — in contrast to surging global revenue — and pointed to increased "scrutiny" in the charity sector as a key issue. The paperwork highlights the need to comply with regulatory requirements to avoid "negative reputational and financial consequences". Yet, despite the Fundraising Regulator's new "advice", Credico still won't guarantee all its charity reps will receive the national living wage.
Haydn Thomas was 19 years old when he worked for Vantage (the Cardiff office where I went undercover). After bosses lured him in with the prospect of one day earning £150,000 a year by opening his own sales office, he worked almost every waking hour, seven days a week, making as little as £100 each week and selling his car. Now 22 and working for a more reputable sales company, Hayden is concerned that investigations into the charities he represented are yet to conclude after almost two years. "I know things take time but this should have been done as soon as possible, because every day you waste is another day where people are getting pressured into signing up for things," he said.
Haydn believes NDCS and SOS must be held to account for their role in the exploitation. "The charities were nowhere near hands-on enough. They did the bare minimum to cover themselves, and they did nothing about all the negative reviews online and the complaints they were getting. You can't have the pressure-selling without having the companies that don't pay people properly, or the charities that should have known what was going on."
He is not convinced the problem will be solved by the regulator's "robust advice" encouraging a minimum wage. "I know there are new guidelines now but I think if you don't put it in stone, with some consequences, people are just going to break it."
After everything we've seen it would be naïve to disagree, which is why WalesOnline will be writing to the UK Government's civil society minister Stephanie Peacock and minister for work and pensions, Liz Kendall, to call for a law — not just guidance — requiring charity reps be paid a minimum hourly wage, regardless of whether their workplace tries to use a "self-employment" loophole. It comes as the Government is promising to create a Fair Work Agency, an enforcement body to protect working conditions.
NDCS and SOS may well be forces for good in some ways, but for too long they and other charities have been associated with grubby, sordid fundraising tactics. We need to see proper legislation and funding for regulators to stamp out the sector's worst elements once and for all.
What the charities and regulator say
A Fundraising Regulator spokesman said: “The Fundraising Regulator has an ongoing investigation into National Deaf Children’s Society and SOS Children’s Villages. We are actively collaborating with multiple regulatory bodies to ensure a thorough and comprehensive review of evidence. With any investigation, particularly if it is complex involving several parties, it is vital both for the those affected by poor fundraising and for the system as a whole that the investigation is thorough and comprehensive."
An NDCS spokeswoman said: “We are deeply committed to running an ethical and fair fundraising programme and have made several adaptations to our programme to strengthen processes, in line with the regulator’s updated guidance. We are actively participating in ongoing sector-wide discussions on the implementation of this guidance.”
An SOS spokeswoman said: "Since restarting face-to-face fundraising, we have conducted multiple online and in person training sessions with our fundraising agencies, including Gather. We also carry out regular call-listening exercises for verification, and welcome calls to verify that fundraisers are interacting appropriately with supporters." The charity says that, unlike NDCS, its contracts with all direct marketing agencies requires reps to be paid at least the national living wage.
If you would like to share your experience of representing a charity or working for a direct sales company, email us at conor.gogarty@walesonline.co.uk
