THE BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY

Registered charity 220949 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BRITISH RED CROSS · also registered in Scotland as SC037738 (OSCR)

The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global network of volunteers, responding to natural disasters, conflicts and individual emergencies.We enable vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help people to recover and move on with their lives.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that free reserves stood at £65.3 million at the year-end, which is within the board-approved target range of £50 million to £70 million. The charity reported a net deficit of £5.2 million for the year, driven by increased charitable expenditure, but maintains sufficient liquid assets and investment returns to continue operations for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House RC000070

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The British Red Cross Society (matched by registered charity number).

Public-sector contracts awarded

From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.

Property (HM Land Registry)

261 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (48 freehold); recorded price paid £2.0m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

CQC provider record: British Red Cross Society — Registered, 30 registered locations, 2 regulated activities, last inspected 20/12/2019.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

CQC provider record: British Red Cross - Dementia Respite Support Service — Deregistered, 2 registered locations, last inspected 12/02/2013.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

Trustpilot: British Red Cross scores 3.8/5 from 207 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (352,229 likes) · instagram (168K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 2.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 26.1% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.9%) (benchmarks).

Care Quality Commission ratings

CQC inspection ratings for services run by a provider matching this charity’s name (matched by name; verify provider identity on CQC’s site).

• Community Crisis Support Service: Good (31/01/2020) · CQC record

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (17/09/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (14/02/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (02/06/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (23/12/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (24/01/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (01/09/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Alan House QFSM · trustee of 1 other charity
• Carl David Cowling
• Dennis Dunn MBE JP DL
• Gabrielle Inglis
• Helen Frances Bennett
• Howard Ashley Bell
• Katie Igras
• Kirsty Robeson
• Louise Halpin
• MARK PETER BEDDY
• Sir John Eaton Holmes · trustee of 2 other charities
• Yaseer Ahmed

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

Operates in: Afghanistan · Anguilla · Bangladesh · Bermuda · British Virgin Islands · Burkina Faso · Burma · Cayman Islands · Djibouti · Falkland Islands · Gibraltar · Guinea

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 CRISIS UK.

• CRISIS UK income £67.2m
• THE BRITISH BLOOD TRANSFUSION SOCIETY income £290k
• BREAKING BARRIERS income £3.6m
• REFUGEASE income £300k
• REDR UK income £2.2m
• SHELTERBOX TRUST income £18.0m

Side by side with its peers

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