The Charity Commission has appointed interim managers to Merseycare Transport Services, three months after it launched a statutory inquiry into financial and governance concerns into the Wirral based community transport charity.

The regulator is also concerned that the charity is running with too few trustees and that its spending “does not seem to align with its” mission.

Gareth Harris and James Dowers of RSM have now been appointed as interim managers of the charity to run it to “the exclusion of the charity’s trustees”.

They have been tasked with protecting the charity’s assets, review its finances and financial controls and examine its governance and operational arrangements.

They will also assess “whether changes are needed to safeguard the charity and its beneficiaries” and consider its “longer-term viability”, said the regulator.

The regulator’s probe will also examine if it has been receiving “inaccurate or misleading” information from the charity and whether there has been any “misconduct, mismanagement or misappropriation of charitable funds”.

According to the Register of Charities the charity spent £1.98m during the 12 months to March 2025, of which £1.77m was spent on charitable activities.

Its income over this period was £1.91m. This is the second time in the last five years that its spending has outstripped its income.

The charity, which supports older people and those impacted by disability, poverty and lack of access to public transport, has two trustees registered with the regulator.

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