“Hi! Hello!” a boy flags me down outside Selfridges on Exchange Square. Kitted out in a navy blue jacket, ‘Educate & Empower’ printed across his back, he’s stopped me to ask a very important question: “Kids love having fun, right?” Yes, I nod. They do.
And how does Educate & Empower, a “youth organisation” — emphasis on the quotation marks — dedicated to supporting SEND children and those from low-income backgrounds, provide that fun? In all sorts of ways, the boy tells me. There’s funding for local schools. Weekly trips to the Trafford Centre. Work experience, free tutoring, sports lessons, bowling, swimming, youth centres…
“Do you know which youth centres?” I ask.
The boy, who’s just turned 18, hesitates. He doesn’t know which youth centres — although he “thinks” there’s one in Moss Side. But, he assures me, if I make a “one-off contribution” (cash or card) right here, right now, I’ll be enriching the lives of disadvantaged kids across Greater Manchester.
But there’s a problem. The Mill tried to find evidence of Educate & Empower organising these initiatives only last month, and we came up short. Not only does the company not appear to provide youth centres, free tutoring and weekly Trafford Centre trips for kids, but several of the clubs and schools that Educate & Empower claims to be partnered with have told us that simply isn’t true.
What we did find evidence of was Educate & Empower failing to pay their own staff. We also obtained a recording of the company’s co-director, 53-year-old millionaire Phillip Hanks, screaming at a teenager to “come and fuck [him] up the fucking arse” because he was requesting to be paid for the shifts he said he’d worked (when we put these allegations to Hanks at the time, he admitted that he had “to get rid of” a few “degenerates” at his company, but that he “never” loses his temper).
Since we published this article, tens of ex-employees or interviewees of E&E got in touch with us to share their increasingly bizarre stories of working at the company, and of meeting Hanks. But there was one thing in particular we were itching to know: what on earth has been happening inside their office since we published?
The Educate & Empower employee standing in front of me provides a startling answer. It turns out, he tells me, our article is not true. So not true, in fact, that Hanks has supposedly launched a “whole investigation” of his own, enlisting numerous lawyers and filing a hefty lawsuit to have it removed from our website. More shocking still is the fact that, unbeknownst to me or my editor, The Mill supposedly responded to Hanks, telling him that if E&E “pay us loads of money, we’ll take it down.” Yet when I ask Hanks about this, his solicitor responds, denying that he has ever claimed The Mill bribed his company.
But that’s not all. I’m told by another former employee that, as part of the new onboarding training, staff are instructed not to let members of the public Google the company before making a payment, due to The Mill’s coverage. Instead, employees should reportedly direct people to a QR code that leads them to the new site. Hanks’ solicitor denies this, saying the QR code has been on the back of Educate & Empower’s brochures “for several years”.
I’m stunned by these revelations, and head back to The Mill office determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
Bribes from The Mill
The morning after our article on Educate & Empower – a community-interest and sales company rolled into one – was published, I’m told the mood in the office was sombre. “A lot of people quit,” the employee outside Selfridges says. Phillip Hanks’ solicitor tells me this is “incorrect”, adding that many staff members support him.
For the employees who rocked up to the office on that Saturday in late August, the boy says Hanks ushered them into a meeting room and addressed The Mill article head on.
This story is free to read - you just need to join our mailing list. And why wouldn't you? By becoming a Mill subscriber, you'll get our scoops, features, and insights into Manchester, in your inbox, the second we hit publish. No card details required.
Already have an account? Sign In
