A SPECIALIST recruitment agency for deaf people is to take legal action against a leading charity for “suffocating” the company into administration.

Dering Employment Services, which has helped thousands of deaf or hard of hearing people find and retain work, claims it is owed £100,000 by the Shaw Trust.

Stephen Dering, 33, chief executive of the firm based in Park Lane, Croydon, accuses the charity of being responsible for “90 per cent” of his company’s financial woes.

He said that due to the specialist expertise of his company, it was subcontracted by the Shaw Trust to deliver services other companies cannot.

Mr Dering said: “Shaw Trust has not paid up for service fees, job outcomes and sustained outcomes for several months.

“Some fees date back over a year.”

Shaw Trust is the UK’s largest provider of employment services for disabled people and a Government-backed charity.

It should have paid Dering a monthly service fee, whenever someone who used the company found work and if they kept that job for six months or more.

Mr Dering claims that, on numerous occasions, Shaw Trust failed to pay these fees.

He has instructed his solicitor to begin legal action against the charity in a bid to recover the money.

“I am bitterly disappointed and incredibly frustrated by what has happened,” he said.

“I have spent a lot of time chasing Shaw Trust for payment, meeting different people and asking why they haven’t paid.

“But they kept using delaying tactics, claiming it was someone else’s responsibility or that they had never received invoices.

“I have personally handed invoices to them, but they still claim they have not got them.”

Mr Dering accuses the charity of using other tactics to effectively “suffocate” Dering.

He said Shaw Trust creamed off the easy to get into work deaf people and found work for them itself.

Mr Dering said: “For instance, as a deaf person with experience and a good education, had I gone to them they wouldn’t have referred me to Dering.

“Even disabled people who specifically needed the specialist services we provided were never referred to us.”

Since it was established in 2006, Dering Employment Services has helped 2,000 deaf people.

The company employs five people in Croydon and 26 in total, who were put on gardening leave when the company went into administration last Monday as part of a 30-day redundancy consultation.

Having been made aware of Mr Dering’s allegations, Shaw Trust dismissed his claim that it owes his company £100,000.

A spokesman said: “We are extremely sympathetic on the part of Dering and its staff, and acknowledge it is a stressful time for all concerned.

“However, we can confirm that the majority of any outstanding payments have been made.

“Further smaller amounts will be paid if they are outstanding.”

Comments are closed.