The director of a professional fundraising company has been disqualified for misleading the public and holding on to funds collected on behalf of charities.

Christopher John Stoddard, 68, from Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was the director of CS Fundraising Limited (CSF).

CSF was incorporated in June 2008 and began trading in late 2012 as a professional fundraiser for charities from premises in Ross.

The company took over the assets and contracts of an associated professional fundraising company that entered into formal insolvency proceedings in June 2012.

At its peak the company was sending out approximately 150,000 mail donation letters each month, on behalf of charities, for whom it acted as a direct marketing agency.

However, under sustained pressure from various sources, Mr Stoddard took the decision to cause the company to cease trading in November 2014 and on December 19th, 2014 the company was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL).

This brought to nine, the number of companies where Mr Stoddard had a significant role, to have gone into some form of insolvency.

On June 13th, 2018, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy accepted a disqualification undertaking from Mr Stoddard, which prevents him from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership, for nine and a half years.

Commenting on the ban, Martin Gitner, Martin Gitner, Deputy Head, Insolvent Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, said: "Members of the public who donate their money to worthy causes need to be confident that all funds, less agreed costs, are forwarded by the professional fundraising companies employed by the charities.

"In this case, Mr Stoddard failed to fully adhere to legislation directly relevant to the business of his company, he failed to ensure that all due funds due to a charity were paid over and he failed to act in the best interests of the creditors of CS Fundraising Limited."