Beads of Courage UK

Registered charity 1141987 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BCCA, BE CHILD CANCER AWARE · also registered in Scotland as SC044198 (OSCR)

Under licence from Beads of Courage Inc., Beads of Courage UK offers emotional support to children with chronic and serious illness by providing Beads of Courage programmes to Oncology/Haematology, Burns, Cardiac, NICU, and Chronic Conditions units throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Beads of Courage restores a child's sense of self when coping with a serious illness.

Objects

TO PROMOTE AND PROTECT THE GOOD HEALTH OF CHILDREN BY EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF CHILDHOOD CANCER AND BY SUPPORTING SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES CONNECTED WITH CHILDHOOD CANCER AS THE TRUSTEES DEEM FIT.

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Solihull, West Midlands, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted funds increased from £464,479 to £667,928, driven by a net income of £203,449 generated from donations. The charity holds £469,728 in cash at bank with no current liabilities, indicating strong liquidity and a surplus position for the year.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 4 were received after the due date: year ending 31/01/2025 (received 13/05/2026, 164 days after the 30/11/2025 due date); year ending 31/01/2024 (received 24/10/2025, 328 days after the 30/11/2024 due date); year ending 31/01/2023 (received 23/11/2024, 359 days after the 30/11/2023 due date); year ending 31/01/2022 (received 09/03/2023, 99 days after the 30/11/2022 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Beads of Courage UK (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Children with Cancer UK — “The Beads of Courage UK Oncology Programme is delighted to be supported by Children with Cancer UK” (source page)

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/01/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~18.5 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (100% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 68.0% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• KEN WEST
• SARAH DRUMMOND

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CHAIN OF HOPE.

• CHAIN OF HOPE income £4.9m
• STRONGBONES CHILDREN'S CHARITABLE TRUST income £601k
• SIBLINGS UNITED income £31k
• BUTTLE UK income £3.2m
• ROOTS OF EMPATHY UK income £52k
• A BREATH FOR LIFE CHILDRENS CHARITY income £130k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.