THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR BLIND CHILDREN
Registered charity 307892 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as RLSB, ROYAL LONDON SOCIETY FOR BLIND PEOPLE, THE ROYAL LONDON SOCIETY FOR BLIND PEOPLE, THE ROYAL LONDON SOCIETY FOR THE BLIND
THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE TO PROVIDE EDUCATION, ADVICE, GUIDANCE AND TRAINING TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR PARTIALLY SIGHTED AND TO PROVIDE SUCH SERVICES AS CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR PARTIALLY SIGHTED MAY REQUIRE TO LEAD INDEPENDENT LIVES WITHIN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES OR OTHERWISE MEET THEIR NEEDS.
Causes: Education/training · Disability · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £1.19m for the year ended 31 December 2025, primarily due to a significant decline in legacy income. Despite this deficit, the trustees confirm the charity remains confident in its long-term sustainability and has taken actions to stabilize operations, including leadership consolidation and cost reductions.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: three to six months of future annual expenditure (held: £1.8m)
“The Trustees have agreed a reserves policy whereby the charity aims to retain between three and six months of future annual expenditure as undesignated reserves on a rolling basis.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Royal Society for Blind Children (matched by registered charity number).
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.
- IYER, Narayan — director, appointed 30/09/2024on trustee list
- COOKE, Melanie Jean — director, appointed 26/09/2024on trustee list
- WARD, Simon Christopher — director, appointed 27/03/2024on trustee list
- KELMAN, Thomas — director, appointed 12/02/2024on trustee list
- HASHAM, Sabira Mehboob — director, appointed 25/05/2023on trustee list
- SOLEBO, Ameenat Olufunmilola, Dr — director, appointed 24/02/2022on trustee list
- RUSSELL, Callum — director, appointed 24/02/2022on trustee list
- MILLER, John Richard — director, appointed 21/05/2019on trustee list
- KNOTT, Peter Richard Andrew — director, appointed 18/05/2017on trustee list
- PLANT, Patrick Gerard — director, appointed 10/10/2014on trustee list
- MAY, Valerie Marlene — director, appointed 28/10/2011on trustee list
- ROSE, Lily — secretary, appointed 26/02/2026
Official officers record.
CQC provider record: The Royal Society for Blind Children — Deregistered, 5 registered locations, last inspected 10/12/2018.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£899k
Reported reserves equal ~3.9 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 20.1% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (19/06/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (29/03/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Patrick Plantchair
- Callum Russell
- Dr Ameenat Olufunmilola Solebo
- John Richard Miller
- Melanie Jean Cooke
- Narayan Iyer
- Peter Richard Andrew Knott
- Sabira Mehboob Hasham
- Simon Christopher Ward
- Thomas Kelman
- Valarie Marlene May
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR BLIND CHILDREN financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £1.19m for the year ended 31 December 2025, primarily due to a significant decline in legacy income. Despite this deficit, the trustees confirm the charity remains confident in its long-term sustainability and has taken actions to stabilize operations, including leadership consolidation and cost reductions. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by HaysMac LLP.
Who funds THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR BLIND CHILDREN?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR BLIND CHILDREN as a grant recipient include ARIMATHEA CHARITABLE TRUST.
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 THE ROYAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND CHARITY, LIVERPOOL.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.