Final settlement with SSG worth “over a million pounds” (updated 12/10/2013)

SPCK Trustees’ Report and Accounts for the year ended 30th April 2013 (pdf, 1.7mb)

THE FINAL SETTLEMENT between SPCK and the Brewers/SSG was worth “over a million pounds” according to the Rt Revd John Pritchard in his Chair’s Overview in the Society’s 2013 Annual Report. This income, he continues, has strengthened SPCK’s “overall financial position” and enabled them to support the pension fund set up for former shop workers. He also acknowledges that it has been a painful process, particularly for those workers:

The very long legal struggle with the Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSGCT) has finally been concluded with a settlement involving the value of the remaining shop freeholds, which were already in the process of being sold or prepared for sale. This represented over a million pounds, which has strengthened our overall financial position and is helping us to support the Designated Fund dedicated to paying into the pension scheme that was operating in the days of the shops. We are very glad to have brought this difficult matter to a conclusion at last. It has been painful for everybody, and particularly for the staff of our former shops. The settlement is good news for SPCK and good news for the church.

Update, 12/10/2013: AGM Records Vote of Thanks

The following note has now been posted on the SPCK news page as part of the Society’s AGM report:

We reached a resolution with Saints Stephen the Great Charitable Trust and the million pounds recovered will help to strengthen the pension fund to the benefit of our former bookshop staff who were in the scheme.  The valuable service which the SPCK shops gave to the Church and to their communities over many years was acknowledged with a vote of thanks and appreciation to all those who had been part of this ministry.

Freeholds Reclaimed, Disbursements and Pension Fund top-ups promised as SPCK settle dispute with SSG

IT’S BEEN A SLOW TRAIN COMING, but SPCK have at long last drawn a line under their long-running legal dispute with SSG, the charity set up by Phil & Mark Brewer to run, but which ultimately ruined, the the former SPCK bookshops. In a news bulletin posted yesterday, Friday 14th September 2012 — just short of six years since the original handover of the shops to SSG was announced — SPCK declared that it had “finally concluded” the matter with “a predicated settlement involving the return of some shop freeholds or their realised value” and further anticipated “substantial disbursements – as yet unquantified – and legal costs which will be clarified in the coming months.”

Describing the settlement, Simon Kingston went on to say,

In particular, SPCK is committed to paying substantial sums into the fund relating to the pension which was operating in the days of the shops.

Congratulations must be made to Simon in particular for his quiet determination and persistence in pursuing this matter to a conclusion. The damage done by the Brewer brothers can never be undone but most of those who suffered at their hands should now be able to begin to look forward to a brighter future and, hopefully, some measure of restitution.

SPCK News: SPCK Legal Dispute Concluded

Full Statement: SPCK Legal Dispute Concluded

SPCK is pleased to announce that it has finally concluded its long legal dispute with Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust. Simon Kingston, CEO and General Secretary, says: “We are very glad to have brought this difficult matter to a conclusion at last. It has been painful for everybody, and particularly for the staff of our former shops. We therefore welcome the news that SSGCT is unlikely to continue as a charity.

“We are now in a better position to focus all our energies on our core aim of bringing knowledge of the Christian faith to the whole world.”

As part of the agreement, SPCK receives a predicated settlement involving the return of some shop freeholds or their realised value. This will be reflected in SPCK’s annual accounts. However, we anticipate substantial disbursements – as yet unquantified – and legal costs which will be clarified in the coming months.

“Funds from this settlement will be vital at a time that is so challenging financially,” said Mr Kingston. “In particular, SPCK is committed to paying substantial sums into the fund relating to the pension which was operating in the days of the shops.”

The Rt Revd John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford, Chair of SPCK, also welcomed the announcement. “This is good news for SPCK and good news for the Church. Now that this is resolved, SPCK can look to the future with confidence.

“And there is plenty to celebrate. Last year, for example, SPCK gave away 12,000 International Study Guides to students training for ministry in some of the poorest parts of the world. Closer to home, the (free) Assemblies website had 37 million hits, and the charity sold over a third of a million books in the UK and another 300,000 overseas. There are more exciting developments in hand for 2012, including the launch of resources supporting literacy in prisons.”

 

The SPCK AGM, Unfinished Business and Unanswered Questions

David Keen writes

The SPCK Annual General Meeting is happening this Thursday – 1st October – and the annual report and accounts for 2008-9 are online. There is a passing reference to the former SPCK bookshops:

“SPCK continues to have a number of significant legal issues with Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust in regard to matters connected with the former SPCK Bookshops. The Charity Commission has appointed an Interim Manager for the Trust, and progress is being made.” (page 6)

Others have stronger views than I over how much responsibility SPCK should shoulder for handing over their bookshops (and staff, customers, and suppliers) to a family of charlatans, who have unfairly dismissed over 30 former staff, been censured in the US courts for a fraudulent bankrupcty claim, and finally been booted out by the Charity Commissioners. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Some better news for former staff: the report reveals that their pension scheme, which is managed by the CofE pension folks (as far as I can tell), had a big shortfall as a result of the CofE revaluing its pensions (though it was struggling before this). SPCK has started making additional payments into the fund of £285,000 to top it up. This is going to be paid for the next 15 years, and the whole amount has been put on this years balance sheet – £3,832,000.

As I recall from comments on this blog, there is some question about whether the Brewers have kept up with pension payments to the staff they inherited from SPCK. Whose job is it to retrieve those: SPCK? Charity Commissioners? Church of England Pensions Board? What happens if they aren’t paid? Maybe this is a question which needs to be asked at the AGM.

Though the pension fund has imploded, SPCK are at least doing their bit to support former bookshop staff on this front. But we’re not out of the woods by any means.

Couple of other things:
– SPCK have nearly £300k in a restricted fund for Newcastle Bible House, which seems to be for the purpose of Christian retailing in Newcastle. This is listed in the accounts. What’s going to happen to this?

– Do the premises of former bookshops still belong to SPCK, or were they completely made over to the Brewers? The shops, as I understand, were given over with restrictive covenant, and at least one has been sold on by the Brewers for another use. I’m not sure what the legal situation is here, whether the shops revert to SPCK if the covenant has been transgressed.

There are other questions which need asking at the AGM, so if any readers of this blog are planning to be there, here is your mission, if you choose to accept it…..

J Mark Brewer, the People’s Hero: A Video to Vomit Over

Phil Groom writes:

Mark Brewer, People's Hero

Fox Business News presents the People’s Hero, Mark Brewer, Principal of Brewer and Pritchard PC, pursuing the SEC on behalf of 30,000 innocent investors. Why? Because, irony of ironies, Mark’s frozen assets at Stanford Financial include his retirement account: “I just had a retirement account there, the government grabbed it,” he says.

I’ve contacted Fox News and asked them to interview Mark about the former SPCK/SSG Booksellers’ missing pension contributions. I leave it to you to imagine the questions and answers…

For the record: if I believed that Mark Brewer was genuinely acting in the public interest and out of concern for the 30,000 or so investors who have lost out in the Stanford Financial scandal then I would gladly applaud. Unfortunately, I’ve seen the way he and his brother Philip W Brewer treat people and do business; and I think the only reward those 30,000 people will ever reap from Mark Brewer’s advocacy will be massive legal bills. If you, gentle reader, are one of those investors, beware: do not trust this man. 

Health Warning: Don’t watch this if you’ve just eaten; or if you do, have a paper bag or other suitable receptacle handy: you’ll need it. Partial transcript below.

J Mark Brewer, The People's Hero

Partial Transcript:

All we’re asking for is that the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment of the constitution be observed, and that the government not just make such a broad sweeping dragnet approach that takes all the investment, the innocent investment, account holders, takes their money and locks it up along with the alleged bad guys — look, I don’t know whether Mr. Stanford and his his people are as guilty as they say they are or not, but what I do know is that I just had a retirement account there, the government grabbed it, and even the receiver admits in his press release that it’s not proper for all of the accounts to be frozen. They’re all held by the way at Pershing, they’re not even held at Stanford.

And all we’re asking for from you, Mark, is that you make four or five amendments to your behaviour here in the UK:

• Pay your former employees
• Pay their pension contributions
• Pay your suppliers
• Withdraw your threats against the bloggers
• Stop shuffling the stock around the shops

Thank you.

• Shortcut to this post: tinyurl.com/brewer-fox-news

Still in the Dark over Pensions

Diary Update
Scheduled for this Thursday, Dec 11th, 4pm: Employment Tribunals Case Management Discussion. See the Diary page for more info.

Phil Groom writes:

We’ve been raising questions about Pensions for some time now, but still seem to be largely whistling in the dark. The most recent discussions have been in the comments thread on Matt Wardman’s article, Durham Cathedral Shop Finances and questionable Saint Stephen the Great payments. 

Previous posts include:

• Pensions and PAYE (30th July)
• Pension Questions (2nd September)

Now, however, following a recent enquiry from a concerned former bookshop employee, Usdaw’s Legal Department have commented that they “are also having difficulty getting information out of the Church of England Pension Board.”

The problem, Usdaw say, appears to be that whilst the Brewers have paid some contributions, they have failed to provide the information needed about the staff that were in the pension scheme. Missing details include such things as the dates when people left SSG, which makes it difficult for the Pensions Board to work out what contributions should have been paid and correlate this with what has been paid. This seems to tie in with the Pension Board’s recently noted requests for copies of some workers’ payslips.

The situation is exacerbated, of course, by the Brewers ongoing failure to respond to enquiries. Usdaw have provided the Pensions Board with as much information as possible about Usdaw members but any non-Usdaw members who were in the pension scheme would be wise to contact the Pensions Board themselves.

Meanwhile, I’m sure Usdaw would love to hear from anyone who can help them fill in the gaps in their information.

Useful Contacts

• Church of England Pensions Dept
• Pensions Advisory Service
• Usdaw
• Watchdog (BBC)

Not So Useful Contacts

• Brewer & Pritchard PC: Support/Contact Page
• Rocket Lawyer: Free Initial Consultation with J Mark Brewer

 

Pensions and PAYE

Once again we are indebted to asingleblog, who raised this issue last night:

After looking at the court documents a number of questions were raised about pensions and PAYE. Someone I know, it wasn’t me, rang the CofE Pensions Board and was most frustrated. He was extensively questioned and was surprised that he was the first person to contact them. He is still not clear whether his employer contribution and his “own contribution” has been paid into the fund. If others are worried about their SPCK pensions please ring 020 7898 1800 and ask for Peter Dickinson.

My friend should not be the only one to ring the Pension Board.

This morning, Raymond replied:

Asingleblog, thanks for flagging this. Your friend is not the only person making enquiries. I spoke to HMRC on Monday and they were helpful. The advice re: tax and NI is for people to write in to the PAYE office shown on their tax coding letter with theit NI number and tax code, explain the situation (I reported the attempted “bankruptcy” and the link to MinistryofTruth’s excellent blog for the documents) and ask them to investigate. The lady I spoke to was apologetic- the process is not quick- but they will put an investigator on the case. Do the same with the Pensions Board- write in with your pension reference, explain the situation and ask them to investigate. You may not get personal info by phoning.