The defunct telephone fundraising agency Listen left legacy debts of more than £3.3m to unsecured creditors, including thousands of pounds to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, documents show.
The details have been revealed in documents submitted to Companies House last week by the firm of liquidators appointed to wind down the business.
Listen, which collapsed in 2019, claimed to have raised more than £250m for its charity clients during its 10 years.
At the time of its collapse, the directors of the London-based company said no money was owed to its charity clients.
But the documents show that Shelter is one of 21 named creditors. The charity told Third Sector it is owed £13,000.
Documents submitted by the liquidators, Opus Restructuring LLP, states that the directors initially estimated the sum owed to unsecured creditors was £1.2m.
But the firm said the latest figure claimed by creditors is £3.4m.
Listen operated as a telemarketing service that charities could hire for telephone fundraising.
From 2015 to 2019 the company experienced hard times due to market saturation, a greater investment in digital marketing and the introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, liquidators said.
A Shelter spokesperson told Third Sector: “Shelter worked with Listen Ltd to support our fundraising work over the phone until 2019. When the company went into administration we were still owed credit for a round of calls and we have not been reimbursed this amount.”
The documents submitted by liquidators also named the Australian charity RSPCA Queensland as a creditor, but the organisation could not confirm this when contacted by Third Sector.
The latest statement from liquidators says former employees were paid in full but it is not yet clear what sums other creditors, including the named charities, might receive.