In North London, there is a small school that takes children with broken hearts and troubled minds and works to put them back together.
The kinds of children who arrive there have been the victims of physical or psychological abuse, have perhaps lost a loved one or suffer from acute mental health problems that they can no longer cope with.
I have visited this school to offer support a number of times. Each time I feel inspired and humbled. And also heartbroken. The pain of these children is often quiet but it hangs in the air with inescapable force.
Inspiration and humility comes from the extraordinary dedication of the teachers and support staff who work with the children to heal and teach them. Their kindness, patience and love seems to know no bounds. They are the kinds of people without which Britain would be a harsher, more brutal place.
With their help, many of these brave children begin to recover. They develop more confidence, they learn to cope better with the trauma in their lives, they take lessons and gain qualifications.
This school also benefits from a grant from Children in Need. Money for the kind of care and education the children need is extremely tight and the charity provides funds for additional classes and resources that would otherwise be out of reach. The wondrous Headmistress of the school tells me that this grant from Children in Need has had a powerful impact on the children. It has been crucial to their healing. It has helped piece them back together.
It is against this background that I have read with deep dismay this week's headlines about Children in Need. Accusations have been made that the charity is sitting on a large cash-pile whilst asking the British public to donate more. The implication is that Children in Need is both not spending its money wisely and doesn't actually need further public donations anyway.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Taking a piece of superficial detail, in isolation, and without the supporting facts, doesn’t explain what is going on. It misleads. The truth here is simple and straightforward. Children in Need does indeed have money in the bank - this is because it often provides grants to charities, community centres, hospices, youth groups, counsellors and many others as a three-year commitment. This allows the heroes who run these places to properly plan ahead in a world of tightening austerity.
Like most responsible charities, Children in Need does not hand over these multi-year grants in one lump sum at the beginning of the period. Instead, the money is released over time so that the charity can monitor the work being done and feel confident that every penny the public has donated is being spent wisely and with the greatest possible impact on the lives of young people.
This is a responsible, prudent way of managing charitable donations and explains why BBC Children in Need holds the cash it has. The charity needs the money to fund the commitments it has made to thousands of organisations throughout the UK.
Understanding this basic and responsible accounting drives a juggernaut through these irresponsible accusations that risk having the most insidious of consequences. If members of the public choose not to give to Children In Need as generously as they have in previous years, the people who will suffer will be vulnerable children living troubled lives. The victim will not be the BBC. It will be those children.
This is an untenable prospect. I hope everyone will get behind Children in Need – just as they have always done - to support this year's appeal and make it the most successful ever. The children and teachers at that school in North London, and many others, would appreciate it.
Danny Cohen is Vice-Chairman of Children In Need and Director, BBC Television
This blog first appeared in the Mirror newspaper under the headline "BBC boss hits back at hidden millions claims', published on Sunday 19 October 2014.
- This year's CiN Appeal Night is on Friday 14 November.
- Children in Need supports 2,600 projects across the UK. Find out more on the charity website.
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