Row over MS charity as centre prepares to close its doors

Staff claim they were told by the charity’s managers that if they didn’t like it there were “plenty of other charity shops” in which they could volunteer, or advised to break away and set up their own charity, severing all ties with the MS Society in Scotland and the UK.

The MS Society hit the headlines in 2009 after author JK Rowling stepped down as a patron having donated huge sums to support its work, as a result of concerns about the way the charity’s London HQ was treating Scottish branches.

A volunteer at the MS Society's Ayrshire and Arran Branch said local members had been told the lease would not be renewed when it expired and thereafter services would be run "virtually", by phone and post.

While no consultation had taken place with volunteers and staff, the charity had since said it no longer wished to be responsible for any properties, said the volunteers, who did not wish to be named.

“Without the local branch mentally, physically and emotionally I could not have survived MS so far," one client said.

"For me the resource centre was a lifesaver and the people in it my lifeguards.

“Where are people with MS and their families going to go? People come in to get information, to sit and talk and have a cup of coffee and to apply for grants and get other help. There are things you just can’t get from a phone call. You can’t hold someone’s hand,” she said.

After a petition was raised to save the centre, the MS Society said there were maintenance problems with the site, but Harry Travers, chair of the Ayrshire and Arran Branch said this was not true.

He added: “We have not been consulted about any of this. There has been no communication with any of the branches about the decisions made by trustees in London.”

However they have been told that the charity will not sign or renew any more leases in any of its shops or resource centres, he said.

Members point to the closure of other resources in Scotland - such as Aberdeen – where the MS Society blamed a pension shortfall for ending the lease on a resource centre in 2015- and Fife, where the lease was not renewed as part of a “major restructuring” in 2014.

A spokeswoman for the MS Society said it would not be taking on any more leases, but denied it was finding reasons to terminate existing ones. She said the situation in Ayrshire was difficult but the society was keen to work with volunteers to ensure support services for those affected by MS were maintained.

She said that services in Aberdeen had improved since the closure of its resource centre, with the branch relocated to a community centre where they had access to a cafe and were better integrated with other groups.

MS Society Scotland Director, Morna Simpkins added: "Unfortunately there have been ongoing issues with the maintenance of the building and the lease in Kilwinning which cannot be resolved. We have been speaking to the former group chair and several other senior MS Society volunteers in Kilwinning and will continue to engage with them on this matter.

"Managing properties can be complex and expensive and so we’ve made the decision not to sign any leases for new properties within our volunteer-led groups. Instead we will focus on providing services through other ways, including using other venues in the community. 90 per cent of our local groups already take this approach, and we believe it works well for people affected by MS and our volunteers.”

Volunteers have the support of North Ayrshire council leader Joe Cullinane, who is urging the MS Society to think again. After a meeting with representatives of the charity, Mr Cullinane said it was misleading to claim the building's condition was the reasons for the branch being closed and said they had apologised. "Unfortunately, that doesn't help keep the shop open," he said. "They kept saying that the shop runs at a deficit and produced the accounts from the last few years, which showed a profit last year," he added.