The chairman of a young people’s charity which trebled its deficit last year is to step down after five years.

David Philpott will leave his role at Ashford-based CXK at the end of this month.

The charity, which tries to help people find work and improve their skills, has appointed Dick Fedorcio, a trustee since 2013, as its new chairman.

He joins after the charity hired new chief executive Pauline Smith in November, who is tasked with turning around a deficit of nearly £335,000 in the year to the end of March 2016.

Mr Phillpot will continue his voluntary role as chairman of ECHO, a small charity supporting children with chronic head disease, and as a trustee of ellenor hospice in Gravesend.

He said his main focus will be his role as chief executive of Wiltshire Air Ambulance, which is building a £5 million air ambulance base, and as chief executive of Yalding-based rehabilitation charity The Kenward Trust.

"David has given so much time, energy and commitment to the charity and must take a lot of credit for CXK becoming a leading provider of help and services to the many people supported during his tenure..." - Dick Fedorcio, CXK chairman

Mr Philpott, who lives in Ashford, said he welcomed the appointment of Mr Fedorcio, who would “continue to innovate and flex the organisation”.

He said: “Five years is a long time and in my experience good leaders know not only when to start a thing but also when it’s time to move on.

“The CXK I now leave is unrecognisable from the organisation I joined in 2012.

“At that time the charity was 90% reliant on a single Kent County Council contract.

“Today we deliver 11 contracts to children and young people across Kent, Essex and Sussex, having diversified our income streams and invested in new services from our modest reserves year-on-year.”

CXK, which also has offices in Dartford and Whitstable, calculated that 42,660 young people benefitted from its services last year. This was nearly double the 21,981 it helped over the previous 12 months.

New chairman Mr Fedorcio has had a career in public relations spanning more than four decades, working in local government in London, Essex, Sussex and Kent.

He returned to London with the electricity industry followed by the Metropolitan Police Service.

Now retired, he continues to provide communication consultancy and assesses public relations apprentices.

He was president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 1992 and awarded the OBE for services to policing in 2006. He also currently chairs the Kent and Medway Sports Board.

He said: “David is an incredibly hard act to follow. He has given so much time, energy and commitment to the charity and must take a lot of credit for CXK becoming a leading provider of help and services to the many people supported during his tenure.

“Together with my existing fellow trustees, the six new trustees about to join us on the board and the CXK staff team, we will be looking to continue to build CXK and take it forward on the next phase of its growth and development.”