A TOTAL of 17 jobs are set to go after it was revealed a Dunfermline fundraising agency is to enter administration.

Karat Fundraising, which is based within Pitreavie Business Park, is set to close despite their best efforts to keep the business afloat.

The firm, which began operating in September 2015, worked with clients such as CHAS, Erskine and Children 1st and helped them raise money through fundraising communication and campaigns.

One member of staff, who did not wish to be named, contacted the Press after they had been informed and said that there was shock and anger over the news.

He said: “Staff were pulled together in February and were asked to take a 33 per cent cut in hours to survive.

“We were told it would be for three months, in which they hoped to get back on track, but we never got any word back.

“Two administrators came in on Tuesday afternoon. They tried to answer questions and gave a letter to everybody with their contact details and about the process, but it was an awful atmosphere when it was announced we were to expect job cuts.

“There was shock, anger and frustration, and one of my colleagues said that is absolutely disgusting that it is happening to us again.

“We’ve no wages coming now and I’ve had to go to the welfare fund, and I’m waiting to find out about that.”

The Press contacted the firm for comment and one of its directors, Lauren Semple, said: “The market we work in is extremely volatile.

“We have not formally appointed administrators but we are putting the company into administration.

“My priority is our staff and our clients. I have tried hard to be honest with staff over tough times in the last few months, and we had done everything we possibly could have done, and the staff offered to reduce their hours.

“This was not a decision made lightly and was an absolute last resort.

“The directors are not paid salaries, so we are taking all of the risk and are in the same boat.

“It is incredibly heartbreaking.”

She added that the company would be releasing a formal statement over the matter after the Press went to deadline.

The collapse of Karat comes three years after the closure of R Fundraising.

The Dunfermline branch of the firm was shut, with the loss of 82 jobs, as the first step of a major restructure of the Fundraising Initiatives Group, R Fundraising’s parent company.

On its website, Karat describes itself as the “only full service fundraising agency within Scotland”, and serves clients throughout the UK.