ROYAL COMMONWEALTH EX-SERVICES LEAGUE

Registered charity 1174874 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as RCEL

The charity operates outside the United Kingdom looking after the welfare of ex-servicemen, women and widows of Commonwealth countries who have at some time served the British Crown.

Causes: The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Armed Forces/emergency Service Efficiency · Other Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total funds decreased from £1,558,167 to £1,447,766, with unrestricted reserves falling to £1,271,652. The trustees report that the current level of free reserves covers 22 months of unrestricted expenditure and that the League has no reserves policy target, planning to expend most reserves over the next four years. The auditor confirmed the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 10922587

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL) (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Field Marshal The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux GCB CBE DSO DL — Grand President (source)
• Major General Mitch Mitchell CB MBE — Deputy Grand President (source)
• Major David Thompson — Secretary General (source)
• Mrs Evelyn Strouts — Chairman Welfare (SCOWP) Committee (source)
• Colonel MJ Winarick OBE — Deputy Chairman of Executive Committee and Council Meetings (source)
• Mr JM Archer — Honorary Treasurer (source)
• Colonel B Pasan Kularatne — Controller Finance (source)
• Squadron Leader Tim Burt — Controller Welfare and Grants (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• ASTRUC, Paul Jacques Sylvain — director, appointed 28/07/2026on trustee list
• HAZELL, Jason Peter — director, appointed 03/03/2026on trustee list
• WINARICK, Michael John — director, appointed 13/02/2024on trustee list
• CHAMBERS, Paul Wesley Farquharson — director, appointed 13/02/2024on trustee list
• MITCHELL, Gerald Ian, Major General — director, appointed 07/10/2020on trustee list
• WATKINS, Libby — director, appointed 09/09/2020not on trustee list
• MARTIN, Andrew John — director, appointed 18/08/2017on trustee list
• ELLIOTT, Christopher Haslett, Major General — director, appointed 18/08/2017on trustee list
• ARCHER, Jeremy Michael — director, appointed 18/08/2017not on trustee list
• STROUTS, Evelyn Anne — director, appointed 18/08/2017on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.9 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (99% 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: 1.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Major General Gerald Ian Mitchellchair
• ANDREW JOHN MARTIN
• EVELYN ANNE STROUTS
• Elisabeth Watkins
• JEREMY MICHAEL ARCHER MA · trustee of 3 other charities
• Jason Peter Hazell
• MAJOR GENERAL CHRISTOPHER HASLETT ELLIOTT
• Michael John Winarick · trustee of 1 other charity
• Paul Jacques Sylvain Astruc
• Paul Wesley Farquharson Chambers

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

Operates in: Antigua And Barbuda · Australia · Bangladesh · Barbados · Belize · Bermuda · Botswana · Burma · Cameroon · Canada · Cayman Islands · Cyprus

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

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 ROYAL NAVY AND ROYAL MARINES CHARITY.

• THE ROYAL NAVY AND ROYAL MARINES CHARITY income £13.7m
• ROYAL ENGINEERS ASSOCIATION income £1.7m
• The Queen Elizabeth II Commonwealth Trust income £243k
• PRINCESS OF WALES'S ROYAL REGIMENT (QUEEN'S AND ROYAL HAMPSHIRES) BENEVOLENT FUND income £377k
• ROYAL BRITISH VETERANS ENTERPRISE LTD. income £24.4m
• Commonwealth Jewish Council income £181k

Side by side with its peers

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