Chief set to leave cash-strapped Scope

Disability charity Scope was expected to announce the departure of its chief executive Tony Manwaring as Community Care went to press.

Though a Scope spokesperson refused to comment on the issue, sources close to the charity said he would be leaving.

Scope revealed that it was facing a 10m budget deficit earlier this year, representing 10 per cent of its annual income, forcing it to institute emergency measures to prevent financial ruin. The charity said it had subsidised statutory services by 174m in the past 14 years.

In an interview with Community Care in February, Manwaring acknowledged that it could be argued that Scope’s trustees had “taken charity too far” for so long by supplementing payments for statutory services (Government has abused our charitable status, 2 February).

Manwaring became chief executive of Scope in February 2003, having previously worked for NCH as director of external affairs.