The lead singer of the band Coldplay, the actor Dame Joanna Lumley and a former Archbishop of Canterbury are among the famous names to have called for the Charity Commission to overturn findings from its report into the defunct charity Kids Company. 

The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public, has published an open letter backed by 54 signatories, including the Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, the former Archbishop Rowan Williams and a host of academics, child protection experts, psychotherapists and researchers.

The letter says the regulator’s report raises “serious concerns” about regulatory ethics and impartiality.

“The report inaccurately depicts the reasons for Kids Company’s closure, abjectly failing to acknowledge the harmful impact of unfounded allegations and external pressures on the charity,” it says.

The letter has been published as a judicial review of the Charity Commission’s report into Kids Company, which closed abruptly in 2015, is set to begin tomorrow. 

In 2021, Justice Falk rejected a bid by the Official Receiver to disqualify Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and former chief executive of the charity, and seven other trustees from holding other senior positions. 

The judge ruled that unfounded allegations of safeguarding failings at the charity were likely to blame for its collapse, not mismanagement by Batmanghelidjh and the other trustees. 

But in 2022, the Charity Commission’s long-awaited report of its inquiry into the charity concluded that Kids Company operated a “high-risk business model” and its repeated failure to pay workers and tax bills on time was tantamount to mismanagement. 

Batmanghelidjh launched a judicial review bid against the regulator’s report in March 2022, arguing the report’s conclusions were based on insufficient evidence or were inadequately reasoned and it should be amended. 

She was given permission in 2022 for a judicial review hearing but died in 2024. Michael-Karim Kerman, clinical director of Kids Company, was permitted by the High Court to continue the case in her place.

The case, which is scheduled to be heard over two days, will argue that the Charity Commission “chose not to accurately represent” the findings of the failed disqualification proceedings in its report and it should be updated. 

The GLP letter says: “For 19 years, Kids Company regularly submitted and passed all its audits to the government and consequently received further funding.

“We call on the Charity Commission to amend its report in line with Justice Falk’s High Court findings at the end of a 10-week court case and a detailed 225-page judgment.”

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We will robustly defend the findings and conclusions of our inquiry into Kids Company at the High Court.”

The full list of signatories can be found here.