Rapid Relief Team — Conflict of Interest?

The Rapid Relief Team (RRT) is a charity connected to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. It provides free catering — principally burgers and refreshments — to emergency services at incidents, supports other charity events and delivers food boxes to those in need. The RRT was established as a central part of the Brethren's successful appeal to the UK Charity Commission in 2012–13, following the loss of charitable status by the Preston Down Trust. Demonstrating public benefit was essential to that appeal.

What follows is an investigation into a financial investment made by the RRT charity — through its trading subsidiary — in a company owned by the family of one of its own trustees, while that trustee simultaneously held both roles.

The Structure

In 2018, the trustees and directors of the Rapid Relief Team included Glen Stacey (now one of the three most senior Brethren leaders in the UK) and Rod Buckley (the current UK Brethren spokesman). In June 2017, the RRT charity established a wholly owned subsidiary trading company — Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd.

Accounts filed for the RRT charity for the year ending 30th June 2018 show two loans totalling £200,000 made to Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd, repayable by June 2023 at 2% above the base rate. The accounts also record a £6,000 donation to the RRT charity from Enfield Safety — a company in which Glen Stacey was a director.

Demco Group and the Nuvik Companies

The Demco Group Ltd was incorporated in December 2017 by the Rabey family — Brethren members based in Peterhead, Scotland. Directors were Paul Rabey and his sons Craig, Dale, Edward and Mark, each owning a 20% share. Demco was a holding company for the Rabey family's businesses, including Caledonian Global Ltd, trading as Caledonian Stone.

On 3rd October 2018, Demco Group incorporated two new companies: UWG Global Ltd and UWG Europe Ltd. Both changed names on 30th October 2018, becoming Uniwipe Global Ltd and Uniwipe Europe Ltd, then changed names again — Nuvik Global Ltd (December 2019) and Nuvik UK Ltd (April 2023). Both remain active. The companies were established to manufacture industrial cleaning wipes, sold under the Uniwipe and Ultragrime brands.

The Family Connection

The Demco Group was set up by Paul Rabey and his four sons. His daughter Lynette, however, is not a named director or shareholder. Lynette is married — she is now Lynette Stacey, wife of Glen Stacey: the same Glen Stacey who was a trustee of the Rapid Relief Team charity at the time of the investment in Demco Group.

The structure is therefore: RRT charity → RRT Trading Ltd (subsidiary) → 10% shareholder in Nuvik UK Ltd, a company within the Demco Group owned by Glen Stacey's wife's family. Glen Stacey himself was simultaneously a trustee of RRT and a director of Nuvik Global Ltd. This would appear to represent a clear conflict of interest — a trustee with a financial foot in both the charity making the investment and the business receiving it.

It is also notable that Richard Blackledge, who was a director of Nuvik Global alongside the Rabeys, Arkcoll and Stacey, resigned in October 2019 — following the appointment of his son Sam Blackledge as a trustee of the Rapid Relief Team charity.

Growth and Buyback

The Demco Group accounts show a company in remarkable growth following the investment period:

In October 2022, both Ronald Arkcoll and Glen Stacey resigned their directorships of Nuvik Global Ltd. Demco Group accounts for the year ending 31st December 2022 confirm that the shares held by RRT Trading Ltd and Vision Accelerator Pty Ltd were bought back by Demco Group for over £2.3 million — a substantial return on the original investment.

It is worth noting that Glen Stacey had already resigned as a trustee of the Rapid Relief Team in January 2020 — before the buyback — and that Ronald Arkcoll remained a trustee of RRT in Australia at the time of his own resignation from Nuvik Global. Since stepping back from these roles, Glen Stacey has risen to become one of the two or three most senior Brethren leaders in the UK. He is now a director of GAP Global Pty Ltd — the Global Advisory Panel — which functions as the executive board of the PBCC globally, authorising all major decisions for the church worldwide.

Conflict of Interest

We were unable to find any declared conflict of interest in the published accounts of the Rapid Relief Team, Rapid Relief Team Trading Ltd, Nuvik Global Ltd or Demco Group Ltd during the period of the investment. Charity law in England and Wales requires trustees to declare any conflicts of interest and to manage them appropriately. The absence of any declaration in publicly filed documents is of concern.