Troubled Welcome to Yorkshire gets extra six months to publish accounts

The annual accounts of the company, which receives millions in public funding through local councils, for the 2018/19 financial year had been due to be published by December 31. But Welcome to Yorkshire has now been granted permission by Companies House to extend this to June, with the updated accounts now covering an additional six months up to September 2019.

The agency, which has struggled to deal with the fallout from the resignation of ex-chief executive Sir Gary Verity last March amidst bullying and expense spending allegations, had said earlier this month that the accounts would be published “as soon as possible” but on Tuesday applied for the time extension, which it said will allow it to “present a broader and more detailed picture of its financial position”.

In August last year, a report by a Local Government Association advisor and an independent advisor to regional council chief executives warned at that stage “it would seem unlikely that the auditor could easily conclude that Welcome to Yorkshire is a going concern” when the 2018/19 accounts were filed by the deadline of December 31.

In September, Welcome to Yorkshire took out a £500,000 loan from North Yorkshire County Council. It was subsequently revealed that the company, which does not have an overdraft facility, would have “run out of cash” that month without the loan and been unable to pay staff.

In October last year, Welcome to Yorkshire was dropped from a £2m marketing campaign for the North York Moors over concerns about its financial stability. In the same month, former Wakefield Council leader Peter Box was appointed as the company's new chairman and said it had been operating with a “spend now, worry about it later culture” which he was determined to change. The company subsequently announced it would not be attending the Chelsea Flower Show in 2020 after its 2019 garden had gone £170,000 over budget.

Welcome to Yorkshire currently has until November this year to repay the £500,000 council loan in full, which is secured against a £1m building the tourism agency owns in York. But it has opened talks with council bosses about potentially extending the repayment period for the loan.

The company has today announced new board member Paul Grace, who is former head of customer banking at Yorkshire Bank, will take the lead for the board on financial planning.

Mr Grace said: "As a board we felt it prudent to extend Welcome To Yorkshire’s financial year end by six months to allow the new board to fully review our current financial position with a view to publishing our finances covering as much as 2019 as possible.

“This will also allow the new board sufficient time to complete Welcome To Yorkshire’s future business plan."

Mr Box said: "Paul’s expertise, added to the work we’ve already been doing, places us in a stronger position to confidently report on our current and future financial arrangements.

“This extended financial reporting period offers anyone interested a full account of our financial obligations."