READING CENTRAL DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL
Registered charity 300505 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as READING CENTRAL DISTRICT COUNCIL, READING LOCAL ASSOCIATION OF BOY SCOUTS
Promotion of Scouting in the Reading area
Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a total surplus of £155,218 for the year ended 31 March 2026, driven largely by grant income for the new headquarters rebuild. Per the trustees' report, free reserves were £62,686, which is £6,000 below the stated policy target of £69,000, though the trustees expect to preserve and marginally build reserves in the coming year.
Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Youth Investment Fund (73% of income)
“Restricted income of £316,818 (2025: £1,692,274) comprised grant revenue from the Youth Investment Fund towards the ongoing HQ rebuild of £304,368” — page 8
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £63k; policy: one year’s unrestricted expenditure on youth programme and activities)
“As of 31 March 2026, the charity had general free reserves of £62,686 (2025: £62,137), £6k under the target reserves level.” — page 9
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: The charity acted as nominee for a grant from the Youth Investment Fund on behalf of the Reading Scout and Guide Headquarters Trust. A loan was also provided to the trust. At 31 March 2026, £19,667 was owed to the charity by the trust.
“At 31 March 2026, £19,667 (2025: £14,454) was owed to the charity by the trust. In these accounts this is shown as £9,833 (2025: £7,227), as a result of the consolidation of the charity's 50% ownership of the trust.” — page 29
Per its FY2026 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Alison Ritchie — Joint District Lead Volunteer (source)
- Tony Phillips — Joint District Lead Volunteer (source)
- Lesley Griffiths — District Chair (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.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£36k
Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 7.1 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (95% 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: 2.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (2.9%) (benchmarks).
- Lesley Griffithschair
- Alison Ritchie · trustee of 1 other charity
- Anthony Edward Jonathan Phillips
- Barry Smith · trustee of 1 other charity
- Clive Robert Orr
- Craig Andrew Moores
- David John Newman
- IAN RODNEY MAY
- Kristen McCabe
- Moya Taylor
- Nigel Robert Tyler Phillips · trustee of 1 other charity
- Philip John Addington
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Reading
Income and spending
Common questions
Is READING CENTRAL DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL financially healthy?
Per its FY2026 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a total surplus of £155,218 for the year ended 31 March 2026, driven largely by grant income for the new headquarters rebuild. Per the trustees' report, free reserves were £62,686, which is £6,000 below the stated policy target of £69,000, though the trustees expect to preserve and marginally build reserves in the coming year. Its FY2026 accounts were independently examined.
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 MACCLESFIELD AND CONGLETON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.