Army Benevolent Fund

Registered charity 1146420 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q4794095 · Wikipedia · also known as ABF THE SOLDIERS' CHARITY · also registered in Scotland as SC039189 (OSCR)

The Charity's Objectives are to benefit persons who are serving or who have served in the British Army, or their dependants, in any charitable way by the provision of grants, loans, gifts, pensions or otherwise.

Objects

THE OBJECT OF THE CHARITY IS TO BENEFIT PERSONS WHO ARE SERVING OR WHO HAVE SERVED IN THE BRITISH ARMY, OR THEIR DEPENDANTS, IN ANY CHARITABLE WAY BY THE PROVISION OF GRANTS, LOANS, GIFTS, PENSIONS OR OTHERWISE.

Area of benefit: UNITED KINGDOM

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

Causes: Armed Forces/emergency Service Efficiency · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Westminster, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that total income decreased to £13.7m from £38.7m in the prior year, primarily due to a large legacy received previously. Despite a net expenditure of £463k, the charity holds free unrestricted reserves of £104.1m, which is above its stated policy target of £86.6m, indicating strong financial resilience.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by UHY Hacker Young. Discloses 3 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
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• 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
• Volunteer management

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.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• ABF The Soldiers’ Charity – Regional Director (Scotland) - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 30/08/2023
• Simon Heale appointed Chairman of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 11/01/2023
• ABF The Soldiers’ Charity salutes its Patron, Her Majesty The Queen - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 12/09/2022
• OXEN Sports UK partners with ABF The Soldiers’ Charity - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 01/06/2022
• ABF The Soldiers’ Charity awards Combat Stress a grant of £350,000 - Cobseo cobseo.org.uk · 15/06/2018

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Army Benevolent Fund (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).

• Wimbledon Foundation — “ABF beneficiaries enjoy special day at Wimbledon and celebrate continued partnership with the Wimbledon Foundation” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2026)

Reported reserves equal ~73.9 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 53.7% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (09/05/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (05/05/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (23/08/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (03/08/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (15/04/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (16/03/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• RACHEL SARAH BOOTHchair
• Amanda Metcalfe
• Anna Katherine Lucy Sedgley · trustee of 1 other charity
• Anthony Craufurd Scott
• Brig Clare Patricia Phillips
• Caitlin Murea Hayden
• DAVID CHARLES GEORGE LONDON
• John Stephen Miller
• Julie White · trustee of 2 other charities
• Maj Gen Jonathan Edward Alexander Chestnutt · trustee of 1 other charity
• Mark George Culmer
• ROWENA RUTH FELL

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 THE ARMY DEPENDANTS' TRUST.

• THE ARMY DEPENDANTS' TRUST income £2.1m
• ARMY FAMILIES FEDERATION income £1.4m
• CARE AFTER COMBAT income £973k
• ROYAL ARTILLERY CHARITABLE FUND income £1.8m
• THE ROYAL AIR FORCE BENEVOLENT FUND income £27.7m
• THE ROYAL ANGLIAN REGIMENT CHARITY income £556k

Side by side with its peers

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