The Canary announces indefinite closure after Lloyds Bank fund block

Staff formed NUJ branch amid pension and NDA disputes

The leftwing news website The Canary has said it would close “for the foreseeable future,” citing what it described as a sustained campaign against it by former staff and outside actors. Founded in 2015 at the height of support for then UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the outlet describes itself as an anti-austerity, anti-Zionist and pro-freedom of expression platform.

The closure announcement came in a social media post and accompanying statement. “After 11 years, we take this action with deep sadness and regret,” the Canary said. “The extent of the lies, defamation, and harassment by ex-staff – coupled with the constant attacks by the state and those who’d see us destroyed – has become too much.”

The Canary added that the decision was not final. “It is not over. This week, we will publish what really happened at the Canary and push back against the vicious campaign against our team and us,” the outlet said. “We may be down, but we’re not out yet.”

The bank fund block by Lloyds came earlier this year and was described by the Canary as unexpected. The outlet said the resulting difficulties in paying staff and contractors contributed to making its situation unsustainable.

Some journalists at the Canary have alleged that the banking issues were used to distract from wider financial mismanagement. They claim that additional funding received over the summer — believed to be more than £2 million — had been squandered on projects including a short-lived newspaper and the purchase of other websites.

Steve Topple, the Canary’s chief executive, told staff in May that he and others in the management team had “serious concerns” about the integrity of the outlet “and also the level of reputational risk.” There are understood to be about 50 full-time and part-time staff at the Canary, who have formed a branch of the National Union of Journalists.

Staff were notified over the summer that the additional funding had almost all been spent and they were facing the possibility of redundancy. At that point, they were told about £400,000 was earmarked to guide the Canary’s operations through the rest of the year — before the Lloyds fund block created further difficulties.

Staff have said they were notified that late payments of pension contributions by the company were reported by the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest), the government-backed workplace pension scheme that helps employers meet their legal duty of automatic enrolment.

Employees have also alleged that earlier this year, they were asked by management to sign “non-negotiable” non-disclosure agreements, and were told that if they refused, they would be subject to changes to their employment contracts.

Topple said all permanent employees had been paid up to date, “though we’re still clarifying some outstanding holiday payments owed.” He added: “All employees’ pension contributions are up to date as of 30 September. As for freelancers, all have been paid up to date as of 30 September.”