BARNSLEY Hospice is expected to have gone from turning a modest profit of £66,000 to making losses of about £450,000 during the tenure of its former chief executive.
Matt Wright left the charity by ‘mutual consent’ after just two years in the job, having been on sick for five months.
The Chronicle understands the £450k deficit forecasted for 2015/16 compared to a £66k surplus in 2014/15 is a result of a soaring wage bill and a hike in running costs set against a shrinking income from the hospice’s retail arm and a fall in cash generated from fund-raising.
Running costs have rocketed from £9,000-a-day to £12,000-a-day, further compounded by a 14 per cent fall in retail income in 2014/15 and a drop in fund-raising income by eight per cent.
