A tradesman dubbed “Britain’s kindest plumber” after becoming an internet sensation for helping vulnerable customers misled donors and engaged in “controversial fundraising”, a regulator has found.
James Anderson rose to fame after sharing photos of himself fixing vulnerable customers’ boilers for free on behalf of his community interest company (CIC) Depher.
It was reported that Hugh Grant, the actor, donated tens of thousands of pounds to the company, which pledged to help the elderly and people in financial difficulty with free plumbing tasks.
In 2022, an elderly couple referred to Mr Anderson as an “angel in disguise” after he gave them a free boiler.
However, a BBC investigation accused Depher of faking stories of good deeds to raise millions of pounds, with the broadcaster saying the company had used images of vulnerable people without consent and faked stories about acts of kindness.
Mr Anderson acknowledged mistakes his company made, but said he complained to communications regulator Ofcom over the BBC’s investigation, claiming he was being “set up in a witch hunt” and that online trolls had “doctored” images.
An investigation launched by the Fundraising Regulator in April last year found multiple breaches of the code of fundraising practice, including around informing donors and treating people fairly.
The watchdog found that there had been misleading use of images on social media, with pictures of the same people alongside different stories, as well as an inability of the CIC, on multiple occasions, to “evidence claims made as part of its fundraising efforts”.
The regulator said there was “controversial fundraising”, with “frequent references to potential death or death from suicide in its materials”.
The Fundraising Regulator also found that donations raised for the CIC were “inconsistent”, with some suggested to be for a specific purpose while others were for general use.
And the watchdog found that donations to the organisation had been used to buy a house but said decisions around how money is used lies with the CIC regulator.
A CIC spokesman said: “Any complaints regarding CICs are taken seriously and if a breach in CIC legislation is identified, then appropriate regulatory action will be considered.
“The regulator would expect all CICs to comply with any legal obligations or regulations to which they are subject whilst they deliver benefit to the communities they serve.”
Depher had previously applied three times to the Charity Commission to be registered as a charity but was rejected for failing to demonstrate it met the necessary legal criteria set out by charity law.
Depher Community Plumbing and Heating CIC is no longer operating and Mr Anderson has stepped down, the regulator said.
Gerald Oppenheim, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said while it took into account the fact that Depher was a small company which had “experienced rapid growth after media exposure” it made “serious errors in its fundraising activities”.
He said: “Our investigations are published so that other organisations can learn from them. Depher’s successor organisation, Community Elderly and Disabled Support CIC should adopt the recommendations we have made.”
