The new boss of a young people’s charity has said she does not want the organisation to simply “chase money” as she begins to turn around a deficit of nearly £335,000.

Pauline Smith began her role as chief executive of CXK in February, having been appointed in November to the post with a salary advertised at £95,000.

Her appointment came as newly-filed accounts showed the Ashford charity, which tries to help people find work and improve their skills, more than trebled its deficit in the year to the end of March 2016.

This was after recording its first ever deficit the previous year, despite cutting staffing costs by more than £2m.

Ms Smith, who was born in Gillingham and lives in St Mary’s Island, Chatham, said the solution is “an increasing focus on the health and wellbeing of participants”.

She said: “I don’t want CXK to just chase money. It needs to find funding that will secure a better future for people living in our communities. Many charities grab hold of any stream of funding to support themselves.

“We need to be clear on our vision and strategy going forward. It is our responsibility to make sure we utilise funding to the best of our ability.

“We are not a private company having to make huge surpluses for our board of directors. We are a charity. We need to make sure the objectives of our programmes reach out to all, not just some.”

Ms Smith’s appointment came shortly before CXK’s chairman announced he will step down after five years.

David Philpott will leave his role at the end of this month, when he will be replaced by Dick Fedorcio, a trustee since 2013.

CXK, which also has offices in Dartford and Whitstable, calculated that 42,660 young people benefited from its services last year across Kent, parts of Essex and East Sussex.

This was nearly double the 21,981 it helped over the previous 12 months.