Save the Children urges government to release £2.5bn from Chelsea sale
A senior Save the Children UK official has urged the British government to release the £2.5bn from the sale of Chelsea football club. The money has sat in a bank account since May 2022, and he wants it usable for humanitarian aid beyond Ukraine.
The executive director for global impact at the children's charity Save the Children UK, George Graham, has written to The Guardian urging the British government to act urgently to free £2.5bn raised from the sale of the football club Chelsea FC. The money has remained in a Barclays bank account since May 2022. He argues it could support children and families around the world.
Why the money is still unused
Graham says the funds were originally pledged to help victims of the war in Ukraine, wherever they are in the world. For more than four years, however, the sum has sat in limbo and accrued interest, while people affected by conflict go without badly needed support.
Last December the government issued a licence to release the money, but it carried geographic conditions that Roman Abramovich, the former owner who sold the club, did not accept. Graham believes a broader licence allowing the funds to support humanitarian causes beyond Ukraine could finally put the money to use. Even releasing only the accumulated interest, he writes, could unlock substantial funding.
The case for urgency
The letter points to global aid cuts, rising food insecurity and growing humanitarian needs. In that context, he says, the £2.5bn could make a transformative difference to the children and families the charity serves.
The letter also addresses the foreign secretary, named in the headline as Ed Miliband. Graham writes that the minister is keen to get things done and says securing the release of the money would have a major impact worldwide, something his predecessors failed to do.
The letter was published after reports of allegations about advisers handling Abramovich's business affairs.
