The Arts Council has withdrawn its £400k grant to one of Sacha Lord's companies
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Updated 13:51, 29 Jan 2025
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Sacha Lord has issued a statement following the Arts Council decision to withdrawn a £400,000 Covid grant issued to a company he was a director of.
Primary Event Solutions, where he was a director, received a grant of more than £400,000 from the Culture Recovery Fund, administered by the Arts Council during the pandemic. The government-funded cultural development agency and charity said today it is now "seeking to recover this money", however.
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In his statement issued in response to the news this morning, the former Parklife and Warehouse Project boss confirmed he would now be stepping back from his role as the Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, which he was appointed to in 2018 by Mayor Andy Burnham.
Lord added that while he 'accepts' the change in grant status, he remained 'concerned over inconsistencies and a lack of proportionality in the handling of this matter'. He added that the investigation conducted by The Arts Council had 'taken a significant, personal toll on myself and my family'.
Today's development comes after the Arts Council revealed it would be 'conducting additional checks' in May 2024 into the application made for Covid support funding by the company owned by Lord.
And, in a statement issued this morning, an Arts Council England spokesperson said: “We take our role as custodians of public money very seriously and have processes in place to assess applications. If concerns are raised to us about a grant application or award, we investigate and take the appropriate action.
“Following a thorough review of the application that Primary Event Solutions submitted to the Culture Recovery Fund in 2021, our decision is to withdraw the grant that was awarded and we are seeking to recover this money.”
The statement from Sacha Lord in full said: "While we acknowledge the change in grant status, we appreciate that Arts Council England have found that there is no finding against the company that it deliberately misled the Arts Council in this application.
“The company and its former directors have continued to work closely with Arts Council England to evidence that grant funds were used appropriately to support staff wages and company stability during the pandemic. United We Stream, for example, was a hugely successful event which raised £583,000 to support cultural organisations, businesses and individuals affected by lockdown. Supporting such businesses has always been my only mission in my various, unpaid roles.
“However, given the company’s current status in liquidation, and recognising that there are a small number of unintended oversights which have impacted the application’s clarity under the criteria, we accept that the grant status has been updated.
“That said, I remain concerned over inconsistencies and a lack of proportionality in the handling of this matter. Not only has this application been reviewed twice previously by the organisation's Counter Fraud team, which, after examining the financial evidence and invoicing, concluded on both occasions that it was compliant with grant guidance, but the length of time taken to bring the matter to a close raises cause for concern and these delays have taken a significant, personal toll on myself and my family.
“Furthermore, the invasion of privacy, particularly the targeted harassment of my wife during the final months of her pregnancy, has been deeply troubling and has only reinforced the importance of protecting and spending more time with my loved ones during this period of my life as a new father.
“I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a city-region - earning recognition as the ‘night-time capital of the UK’, ranking eighth in the World’s Best Cities for Nightlife, surpassing global destinations like Budapest and Buenos Aires, and successfully introducing initiatives which will transform our nightlife for the better, such as 24-hour night buses.
"However, the emotional toll and experience over recent months has given me the opportunity to reflect and gradually step back from my role in Greater Manchester. With heartfelt thanks to the Mayor and his team, I have decided to continue in this direction and embrace a new chapter ahead - championing the sector on a national level with fresh focus and energy.”
The Arts Council administered the Culture Recovery Fund during the Covid-19 pandemic to support 'the wide range of cultural organisations and infrastructure that we value as a nation'.
Primary Event Solutions, which Mr Lord owned a 30 per cent share in, applied for the Covid grant from the Arts Council and was awarded a total of £401,928 on March 29, 2021, according to the Arts Council, and paid in a series of instalments.
The Arts Council had received a complaint about the grant to Primary Events in December 2022, but concluded that there had been no misuse of public funds. However, in May 2024 hyperlocal email newsletter The Mill published a story detailing allegations about the application for the grant which led to Lord suing them for defamation.
Following this, the government-funded cultural development agency and charity issued a statement at the time saying: “In light of new information that has been directly brought to our attention this week, we will be conducting additional checks on the application from Primary Event Solutions.”