ISPCC to hear details of report commissioned after fraud inquiry

The ISPCC's national executive is expected to hear details today of a management consultants' report commissioned after a senior…

The ISPCC's national executive is expected to hear details today of a management consultants' report commissioned after a senior official was arrested in a fraud investigation in January.

A sub-committee has been studying the report by Deloitte & Touche and is expected to give details to the 32-member executive at this afternoon's meeting.

The acting director of services, Mr Paul Gilligan, would not comment on the contents of the report yesterday and said there was no indication that significant decisions would be made at today's meeting.

He confirmed that the organisation has stopped paying commission to collectors, paying them an hourly rate instead.

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Last year, an investigation by the Sunday Business Post found that a number of collectors had been short-changed on commission and this led to a Garda investigation culminating in the arrest of the senior official.

Mr Gilligan said collectors are now being paid a rate of £4 to £6 an hour. Each collector also has a contractual agreement with the ISPCC containing a clear statement of what he or she is entitled to.

There has been some criticism of the ISPCC over the years for paying collectors, he said, but he argued that it has little choice in the matter. "If we could get voluntary collectors we would use them," he said, "but we can't."

The ISPCC receives little or no State funding and is heavily reliant on its income from street collections and special fund-raising events.

This reliance led to additional controversy early this year when volunteers complained that they had been removed from rosters because they could not or would not sell £300 worth of tickets to raise money for the organisation. This requirement has been dropped.

The senior official arrested in January is on paid leave from the organisation.