The Loop Drug Checking Service is granted charity status and appointment of its first CEO

The UK’s first and only dedicated drug-checking not-for-profit organisation, The Loop, has recently been granted charity status by the Charity Commission and has welcomed on board the first CEO for a drug-checking service in the UK. As an organisation with a Home Office license for drug checking, The Loop are delighted that the Charity Commission undertook a comprehensive legal review of it’s activities, and determined drug checking as a legal and charitable activity in the UK. This provides the organisation with an excellent platform to develop services, reach wider communities and more individuals, and greater opportunity to secure further funding to do so.

The appointment of Katy Porter as the new CEO, as well as the addition of a full-time administrator, Ursh Skeet, is a significant step for The Loop. Katy is a highly experienced senior manager in health care and Trustee/Vice Chair for the youth homeless charity, Depaul UK.  Katy has brought will be bringing with her a wealth of experience and will be forging an exciting path for The Loop via a generous grant from the independent grant-giving trust, The Tudor Trust.

'It is an amazing time to join The Loop; all the continued energy and commitment of so many over the past 10 years has enabled us to get to this next stage in our development. The recognition and registration as a Charity, will mean that our health services and the important information we generate through drug checking will now reach more people in more places across the UK, and greatly assist in reducing drug-related harm. I am excited by the opportunity to lead such an innovative and important organisation as The Loop'.

Katy Porter, CEO, The Loop

For the past 10 years, The Loop has been run as a not-for-profit CIC by its founder and director, Professor Fiona Measham, Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool. Fiona has become Chair of the Board of Trustees, alongside Darren Knight, Chief Executive of the HIV charity George House Trust, and Jon Drape, director of festival production company Engine No. 4 and founder and patron of the Festival Safety campaign Attitude Is Everything. The Loop will advertise for new trustees at a future date, through charity trustee and specialist finance channels.

Professor Fiona Measham added: "The Loop is very lucky to have the experience and skills of Katy to drive the next stage in our development, for what is now very much a full-time job. The Board is delighted to have appointed her."

The Loop will continue to expand its provision of drug checking and associated harm reduction services in nightlife at events and community hubs, across the country as well as training in drug awareness, harm reduction and managing issues in night-time economy venues.

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