2025-12-31-accounts

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Disasters and emergencies

Annual report and accounts 2025

Photo © Marco Kesseler / British Red Cross

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	British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025 Contents Contents ForewordLiz Padmore, Chair 2022–2026 3 WelcomeBéatrice Butsana-Sita, CEO 4 Who we are 5 Our 2030 strategy 6 Together, we raised £293.5 million in 2025 7 Our work in the UK 8 Disasters and emergencies 9 Health and care 14 Displacement and migration 18 Our work across the world 24 Empowering National Societies to respond to emergencies 25 Accelerating community-led climate resilience 28 Driving humanitarian policy change 30 Our work to drive us forward 31 Our people 32 Volunteering and engaging young people 32 Our staff 34 Our organisation 35 Reducing our carbon footprint 35 Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support 37 Optimising data, technology and our processes 41 Finance review 42 Charities Act statement 45 Safeguarding 46 Risks 47 Governance information 48 Auditor’s report 51 Accounts 53 Thank you 74 Get involved 75	British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025 Contents Contents ForewordLiz Padmore, Chair 2022–2026 3 WelcomeBéatrice Butsana-Sita, CEO 4 Who we are 5 Our 2030 strategy 6 Together, we raised £293.5 million in 2025 7 Our work in the UK 8 Disasters and emergencies 9 Health and care 14 Displacement and migration 18 Our work across the world 24 Empowering National Societies to respond to emergencies 25 Accelerating community-led climate resilience 28 Driving humanitarian policy change 30 Our work to drive us forward 31 Our people 32 Volunteering and engaging young people 32 Our staff 34 Our organisation 35 Reducing our carbon footprint 35 Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support 37 Optimising data, technology and our processes 41 Finance review 42 Charities Act statement 45 Safeguarding 46 Risks 47 Governance information 48 Auditor’s report 51 Accounts 53 Thank you 74 Get involved 75
		Finance review 42
		Charities Act statement 45
		Safeguarding 46
		Risks 47
		Governance information 48
		Auditor’s report 51
		Accounts 53
		Thank you 74
		Get involved 75

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Foreword

Foreword Liz Padmore, Chair 2022–2026

It has been a privilege to Chair the British Red Cross over the last four years and witness the incredible impact our work has had on those in crisis and the extraordinary commitment of our supporters, volunteers and staff.

Photo © Rob Pinney / British Red Cross

During my time as Chair, we have navigated devastating global crises, witnessed the escalation of numerous appalling conflicts, and operated within an increasingly complex domestic and international political and financial environment.

2025 was no different. The year saw unprecedented funding pressures, a rapidly shifting global landscape, and a continued rise in humanitarian need throughout the world driven by conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, devastating earthquakes in Afghanistan and Myanmar, and protracted crises in Nigeria, Syria, Lebanon and the Horn of Africa.

As part of the global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the British Red Cross supported more than 1.4 million people worldwide, improved community resilience – here and around the world – and worked to strengthen respect for international humanitarian law.

Last year marked the 60th anniversary of our fundamental principles – humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality – and never have they felt more vital. They enable us to reach people in the most sensitive and complex situations. They allow us to stand alongside communities everywhere without judgement, offering support based solely on need. They inform all our high-level humanitarian diplomacy work.

We continued to work with our Movement last year to reinforce our collective responsibility to uphold the Geneva Conventions and to champion the protections afforded to those affected by armed conflict.

We play an important role in educating young people about the principles through our HumanKind programme. We also train professionals on

international humanitarian law, helping to develop an informed community of practitioners committed to ensuring that these principles are upheld.

Here in the UK last year, we continued to feel the effects of sustained pressure on public services, rising living costs and the consequences of climate change. Our teams helped communities through severe weather events and offered practical and emotional support at moments of acute distress. Our refugee services provided advice, casework and support to thousands of refugees and people seeking asylum, helping them rebuild their lives. Our international family tracing teams reconnected loved ones separated by conflict and disaster, and our health and care teams helped people facing complex and ongoing health issues.

I have been continuously inspired by the dedication and generosity of our volunteers. I am so proud of our work last year to enhance volunteering at the British Red Cross and to place our volunteers firmly at the heart of what we do. Our volunteering campaign encouraged thousands of new people to step forward and join us. The impact of the time, care and commitment they give cannot be overstated – they change lives by making a tangible difference to people going through crisis.

Our dedicated psychosocial support team marked its 20th anniversary in 2025. This remarkable group of volunteers works with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to provide practical and emotional support to British and other nationals affected by crises around the world. With a bag always packed, they are ready to leave with just six hours’ notice, to support those in need.

I am proud that three of our incredible volunteers were recognised by His Majesty The King last year. Gill Moffat from Aberdeen and Wendy Solesbury MBE from Oxfordshire were presented with the Queen’s Badge of Honour awarded in the name of our late Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Grahame Roberts from Cheshire received the King’s Badge of Honour alongside Mairi Allan, the head of our youth engagement team.

As the strength and reputation of our volunteering community grows, more young people are stepping forward to get involved as the humanitarians of the future. Young people aged under 26 now represent 23% of our volunteers – a powerful reminder that the future of

humanitarian action rests in capable hands. We added to the diversity and experience of our board last year by appointing a trustee to a dedicated position reserved for someone under the age of 30. This has been a long-standing ambition of mine and I was really pleased to see it become a reality.

Creativity and innovation were hallmarks of all our initiatives, such as our inspirational Here for Humanity Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, which saw our volunteers and staff speak to tens of thousands of visitors about our vital mission. We won a prestigious gold medal and received extensive media coverage, reaching millions of people with the story of our work and its enduring importance.

Last year also saw us further strengthen our financial and organisational resilience. In a climate of rising costs and heightened scrutiny, we have refocused our organisation to be as effective as possible and strengthened our ability to deliver for those in crisis. We continued to manage our resources carefully, increased our reserves and embedded the priorities of our refreshed strategy. We have a responsibility to those we serve, and those who support us, to be impactful, transparent and accountable. I am confident I am leaving our organisation better positioned to meet that responsibility.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my fellow trustees and external members of our committees for their wisdom and oversight over the last four years. Professor Geeta Nargund and Lewis Iwu left the board in 2025 and Helen Bennett and Gabrielle Inglis joined. I know the board will continue to be bold and courageous in its work alongside our brilliant executive leadership team.

As I sign off, I want to thank all our volunteers, staff and supporters. You demonstrate every day your belief in humanity, and, by being part of our Red Cross family, you turn that belief into meaningful action.

Thank you for all you have done over the last four years for people in crisis. Leaving such committed and passionate colleagues fills me with both sadness and pride. I am deeply grateful for your tireless dedication, and I have every confidence that you will continue to be here for humanity in the years ahead.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Welcome

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Welcome Béatrice Butsana-Sita, CEO

2025 saw our volunteers, staff and supporters continue to demonstrate what it truly means to mobilise the power of humanity. In a world that feels increasingly insecure – shaped by conflict, climate shocks, displacement and inequality – our purpose has never been clearer, nor our role more necessary.

Photo © Laura Lewis / British Red Cross

As part of the global Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, we responded to 40 crises around the world last year, including those in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Nigeria. With 191 National Societies across the world embedded in the communities they serve, we have a truly local-first approach, working alongside local communities, national governments and global organisations to get help to those on the ground as quickly and effectively as possible.

Our teams in the UK supported communities affected by floods, fires and other local crises across all four nations. We are the only voluntary organisation to deliver a UK-wide, 24/7 emergency response service.

Across all our work, we supported people to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and ultimately strengthen themselves against crisis. This focus on the resilience cycle ran through every aspect of what we do – in our approach to crises and emergencies, our community resilience work, our climate emergency projects and our conflict preparedness initiatives.

Preparedness is the most important aspect of this cycle. Strong, resourceful individuals and connected communities are far better able to withstand, respond to and recover from crisis.

We worked closely last year with national and global agencies and local groups around the world to get vital practical support and information out to people ahead of a crisis. We strengthened anticipatory action systems in places at risk of flooding, drought, food shortages and cholera. I travelled to

Nepal to see the incredible climate adaptation projects we are supporting alongside our partner National Societies. This work is helping communities adopt climate-smart initiatives to protect their communities and livelihoods and support critical habitats for endangered species.

In the UK we built individual and collective resilience. We equipped millions of people with the confidence and skills to respond effectively to crisis through our first aid training and humanitarian education programmes. Our new HumanKind initiative will help educators support young people to build resilience and understand the world around them by fostering empathy and confidence to act in times of crisis.

We partnered with national bodies and local organisations to make sure people had access to timely information and essential support before winter storms, power outages and heatwaves struck. And our health and care teams fostered individual resilience with community-based care services designed to help people through acute health emergencies and empower them to better manage their wellbeing.

In our increasingly insecure world, millions of people are having to leave their homes, communities and loved ones to travel through hazardous conditions to unfamiliar towns, cities, countries and continents. I visited some of our refugee services volunteers and staff in Salford last year. I witnessed the quiet courage of families rebuilding their lives after long, treacherous journeys, devastating separation and bereavement. I saw the compassion of our teams standing beside them, offering practical and emotional support when they needed it most.

2025 also saw numerous fast-paced policy and rule changes for the asylum system. We worked hard to ensure that people had the practical and emotional support needed to navigate these changes. We continued to advocate for a fair and effective asylum system and safe, legal routes to asylum.

Our operational insights – grounded in daily contact with people experiencing crisis – give us a unique vantage point. In 2025, we engaged regularly with UK governments on major humanitarian issues. These are crucial opportunities for us to put forward practical, evidence-based solutions shaped by what we see on the ground.

We are determined that the voices and first-hand experiences of people in crisis are at the forefront of decisions made on their behalf. Community involvement and coproduction helps shape all our work. Through our community listening project, we have deepened our understanding of the needs of the people we serve. By embedding listening into our programmes, we are ensuring our services are shaped by lived experience and local knowledge.

Last year, at the midpoint of Strategy 2030, we sharpened our strategic goals for the years ahead and clarified our priorities to ensure maximum impact. We are concentrating our resources on areas where the humanitarian need is greatest. This disciplined focus will enable us to remain sustainable, effective and innovative.

We are also investing in our people. Creating an environment where our volunteers and staff feel valued, supported and empowered is fundamental to delivering our mission. We continued last year to nurture a culture of equity, trust and inclusion, recognising that our diversity strengthens our ability to serve.

As I look back on 2025, I see extraordinary dedication in the face of extraordinary challenge. I see volunteers responding to floods in the early hours of the morning. I see teams patiently guiding families that fled conflict through complex systems. I see colleagues influencing national policy with evidence drawn from lived experience. I see communities themselves stepping forward to support one another.

Finally, I want to pay tribute to Liz Padmore who stepped down as Chair of the board in February. Liz led the board during some of the most complex humanitarian challenges of recent times. She put her heart and soul into the work of the British Red Cross and has been a true champion of our cause, the strongest of advocates for our mission, and she leaves us with our grateful thanks.

I want to thank every volunteer, member of staff, partner and supporter who makes our work possible. In a world that can often feel divided, you continue to demonstrate the power of kindness. Thank you for being here for humanity.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Who we are

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Who we are

Photo © Marco Kesseler / British Red Cross

The British Red Cross is here for humanity. Together, we help people prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis – bringing hope and lifechanging support. Our teams work side by side with communities, listening to their needs and putting them first.

There’s no other movement like this. We are part of the world’s largest humanitarian network, stretching across the UK and 190 other countries, ready to respond when the worst happens. For over 100 years, our Royal Charter has formed the basis of how we work in the public interest.

Our vision is for a world where everyone gets the help they need in a crisis. Photo © Ukrainian Red Cross / IFRC

Our mission is to mobilise the power of humanity so that people can prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis.

Our Movement

2025 marked the 60th anniversary of the seven fundamental principles of our Movement:

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement consists of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies around the world, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

humanity impartiality neutrality independence voluntary service universality unity

Every National Society has a responsibility to help vulnerable people within its own borders, and to work in conjunction with the Movement to protect and support those in crisis worldwide.

These principles commit us to putting people first in everything we do. They guide us during difficult times and remind us of our shared strength.

The ICRC helps victims of armed conflict and internal crises, and co-ordinates the work of National Societies in these situations.

We work with people and communities in the UK and around the world to help them build their individual and collective resilience, prepare for emergencies, and respond to and recover from crisis. We work with our Movement partners, governments, and national and local agencies to influence positive change at local, national and global level.

The IFRC co-ordinates international relief provided by National Societies for victims of natural disasters, and for refugees and displaced people living outside conflict zones.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Our 2030 stratDisasters and emergencies gy

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Our 2030 strategy

In 2025, we launched a refreshed 2030 strategy – our shared commitment to mobilising the power of humanity in an era defined by uncertainty and escalating humanitarian need.

The strategy sets out how, between 2025 and 2030, we will focus our efforts on creating the conditions for building hope, humanity and resilience in a context of constant flux.

Our mission has never been more relevant, our values never more vital, and our mobilisation never more urgent.

Our world is changing and people don’t always have the support they need in a crisis. To deliver on our mission, we will prioritise our work towards 16 goals, grouped in the three focus areas below. These demonstrate the incredible impact we want to have for the people and communities who need us most.

To mobilise the power of humanity so that people can prepare for, respond to, and recover from crisis. . In the UK Across the world

Our mission

Our focus

Across the world We’re part of the world’s largest humanitarian network. We’ll work closely with our National Society partners to:

To drive us forward

Everyone at the British Red Cross has an important role in shaping the exciting organisation we want to be.

We’ll focus our work across three key cause areas: Disasters and emergencies

• Prepare communities for crises.

• deliver fast and local emergency cash support

Together, we will:

• Build resilience, especially for those most at risk.

• build climate-resilient communities

• create a vibrant movement of volunteers and young people

• strengthen international humanitarian law

Health and care

• inspire new and existing supporters

• Deliver community-based support.

• promote growth and learning for our people

• Call for investment into community health and care.

• build a culture of trust and equity

Displacement and migration

We’ll improve how we work by:

Find out more - Support displaced people to rebuild

about our lives with dignity. Strategy 2030 - Advocate for a fair asylum system here and more safe routes.

• reducing our carbon footprint

• optimising data and technology

• using simpler process

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025
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Together, we raised £293.5 million in 2025

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, fundraised, donated money or items, shopped with us, or gave a gift in their will. Your generosity helped us reach those most in need, both here in the UK and around the world.

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You generously supported our These are the charitable activities How we spent your money
emergency appeals last year we spent money on in 2025
You donated £293.5 million in 2025, including 74% was spent 13% was spent 12% was spent
£46.4 million linked to specific emergencies. helping people in on support costs. on fundraising
This included £18.0 million for our Gaza Crisis and crisis (excludes This spending is to generate
£36.1
Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeals, support costs). essential for our income so that
million
£10.7 million for Ukraine and £7.7 million for our organisation to we can respond
Myanmar Earthquake Appeal. run efficiently and to emergencies
allows us to help and be there for
as many people people in crisis. This
£293.5m
£287.1m
300 in crisis as possible. excludes the costs
£110.7
£25.7m
£46.4m £53.3 of running our high
million
250
million street shops.
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74% 13% 12%
150
£261.4m Our work in the UK spent on spent on
£247.1m spent helping support fundraising
people in crisis costs
100 £28.0 Disasters and emergencies
million Health and care
50 Displacement and migration
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2024 2025
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You generously supported our emergency appeals last year You donated £293.5 million in 2025, including £46.4 million linked to specific emergencies. This included £18.0 million for our Gaza Crisis and Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeals, £10.7 million for Ukraine and £7.7 million for our Myanmar Earthquake Appeal.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Disasters and emergencies

Our work in the UK

Our UK services were able to meet intense demand once again during 2025. We responded to extreme weather events, helped vulnerable people deal with serious ongoing health issues and supported refugees and those seeking asylum.

Thanks to you, we offered hope to people during their worst moments.

Joanna, a British emergency response volunteer, supports Virginia, who was affected by flooding in Pontypridd, Wales.

Photo © Francesca Jones / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Disasters and emergencies

We spent £36.1 million

Storms left communities devastated in 2025 as weather emergencies continue to become more common in the UK. We helped the authorities meet people’s humanitarian needs with our 24/7 crisis and emergency response service. We built individual and collective resilience by working closely with national agencies and local groups to get vital practical support and information out to people ahead of a crisis. Our community education work helped people build their resilience, prepare for emergencies and recover more effectively.

Nathan, a British Red Cross volunteer in Scotland.

Photo © Joel Redman / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Disasters and emergencies

Working with people and communities

Our goal: Enable communities to be prepared and respond together when disaster strikes, prioritising those with the greatest unmet needs

We responded to an average of four crises a day (an increase from three per day in 2024) and reached more than 4.3 million people with our community education and preparedness work

Crisis and emergency response

Our UK crisis and emergency response teams responded to 1,300 emergencies last year.

January saw Storm Éowyn cause chaos across the UK. We distributed preparedness kits with wind-up torches and flasks to people at risk of prolonged power outages. Over the course of 30 days, we deployed 135 emergency response volunteers across all four nations, supporting more than 1,600 people affected by the storm.

Storm Éowyn caused the first ever red weather warning in Northern Ireland. We reached more than 400 people in the most isolated, rural areas of the country. Our volunteers were often the first people some had seen in a week. We gave out blankets, torches, hot water flasks, hot meals, heat packs and mobile phone chargers to help people prepare, respond, recover, and mitigate against future events. Many were without heating, lighting or internet and phone connectivity. We distributed a total of £45,500 in cash to people in need in Northern Ireland from our Disaster Fund.

Photo © British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Disasters and emergencies

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Working with people
and communities
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Psychosocial support

British Red Cross volunteer Gill Moffat

(pictured left), awarded the Queen’s Badge of Honour last year, was deployed to Ahmedabad in India in June. She was part of our psychosocial support team, which provided practical and emotional support to British nationals and their families and consular staff involved in the Air India crash.

Established in response to the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the team works with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to support British nationals affected by emergencies outside the UK. It has deployed almost 400 volunteers as part of more than 100 deployments over the past 20 years. From tsunamis to terrorist attacks, bus and plane crashes to mudslides, the team can deploy 24/7 365 days a year within six hours.

During 2025, the team were deployed to support evacuations to the UK from three crises:

• in Tel Aviv and Larnaca , we provided psychosocial support to approximately 310 people evacuated from Israel.

• in Ahmedabad , we provided psychosocial support to 28 relatives and two family friends of people involved in the Air India crash.

• in Jamaica , we supported more than 119 people evacuated following Hurricane Melissa.

fostering empathy and confidence to act in times of crisis.

Community preparedness

Our community education and preparedness work taught children, young people and adults first aid, how to build resilience and how to think and act as humanitarians. More than one million people have now downloaded our first aid app and more than 28,000 used it in 2025. Our community education teams trained 105,000 people in everyday first aid to build resilience and we had over 2.8 million unique views of our education content on YouTube.

The programme’s free continuing professional development courses support educators to deliver learning that helps young people explore humanitarian themes and life skills. We launched four courses in October: Climate, Migration, War, and Conflict and First Aid, with Resilience launched in January 2026.

More than 1,200 educators engaged in the programme in 2025, teaching more than 3,100 children. As we train more educators and they begin delivering sessions, this reach will multiply significantly, embedding humanitarian education across schools, colleges and other youth settings nationwide.

We launched HumanKind, our new humanitarian education programme, in October. It helps teachers, youth workers, and other educators support young people aged 11 to 18 to build resilience and understand the world around them by

Visit the Educator Hub

Our courses

Photo © Syrian Arab Photo © Ukrainian Photo © Getty Red Crescent Red Cross Society Photo © Getty Photo © Getty

Your words on why you support us:

“

The Red Cross helped me and my family when we had a house fire in the UK and almost lost everything. They were so lovely, and it has stuck with me ever since. Amazing charity and amazing work.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Disasters and emergencies

Working with people and communities

Working with colleagues across the Movement

Last year, we worked with colleagues in the Ukrainian Red Cross Society to share our humanitarian education expertise. We helped them strengthen their work in schools teaching children how to act in emergencies, how to recognise potential risks, and how to look after their own safety and the safety of those around them.

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The Ukraine Red Cross Society school safety sessions project, teaching children how to stay safe in emergencies

First aid training

More than 112,000 people attended our in-person British Red Cross workplace first aid training courses last year – over 10,000 more than in 2024. These courses enable people to achieve first aid training to a level 3 qualification standard, helping to drive positive change and resilience in crisis.

As one of our social enterprise initiatives, this programme generates profits that further support our charitable work, raising over £20 million in 2025. Feedback on the quality of our training continues to be positive, with 99% of respondents giving it an

‘excellent’ or ‘good’ rating. This is a 3% improvement on last year, with consistent levels of people willing to recommend our training.

With more than 6,000 reviews, our Red Cross Training courses have earned a Trustpilot rating of 4.9 out of 5 (Excellent).

Amy, pictured below, attended a British Red Cross First Aid at Work training course in Cardiff. It meant she was able to help a colleague who was having a stroke.

Amy said:

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Not only is it a good skill to have at work, but it’s also something you can put into practice at home or at any given moment when needed. You truly can make a difference and possibly even save someone’s life.

Our Mental Health at Work training is now well-established and receiving extremely positive feedback throughout the UK, across a range of different industries. As one customer shared: “Learners feel more confident in being able to handle calls with empathy and compassion, provide support, and look after their own wellbeing.”

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025 Disasters and emergencies 13
Influencing change
We influenced the UK government to
consider the needs of those most likely
to be disproportionately impacted by
Water’s Edge
flooding when funding is distributed.
Understanding flood preparedness,
impact and recovery in socioeconomically
We published new research into the impact of disadvantaged communities
Embed UK resilience as flooding on low-income communities across
Our goal:
the UK in our Water’s Edge report. We
a national priority, ensuring those
shared our insights with the UK government,
communities who are most at risk are the Climate Change Committee, the Scottish
Environment Protection Agency and the
Download
prepared to respond to and recover Welsh Flood and Coastal Erosion Committee.
from emergencies We also shared our recommendations in
person at a Senedd event.
We have been invited to join the UK
We have seen progress on our
government’s Floods Resilience Taskforce.
recommendations, with DEFRA confirming
This will enable us to continue to represent
Photo © Institute for Government.
changes to future flood funding in England
the needs of the communities who are most
Our CEO Béatrice Butsana-Sita speaks at
to better target communities with the
a British Red Cross event about flooding vulnerable to crisis.
greatest unmet needs. and national resilience, held in partnership
with Institute for Government.
We influenced the UK government’s to see the UK government recognise the
new Resilience Action Plan .
vital role the sector can play. The plan
commits the government to co-production
The Cabinet Office’s new plan, published in
with these organisations to improve public
July, reflects our priorities by ensuring that
communication and emergency preparedness.
people’s vulnerabilities are at the centre of
government risk assessments. The Cabinet Office is also considering
changing the law to strengthen partnership
The plan takes account of different
working between statutory emergency
vulnerabilities such as age, housing type,
responders and VCFS organisations.
disability, health and spatial or social
isolation. It recognises that vulnerabilities are
The UK Government Resilience Action Plan often hidden, multiple and overlapping
The UK’s strategic approach to resilience July 2025 in different communities. Your words on why you support us:
We have long called for voluntary, community
“
I believe it is important to
Photo © Joel Redman / British Red Cross and faith sector (VCFS) organisations to be
© Supplied / Senedd Y Farchnad support those in desperate
British Red Cross volunteer Joanne more involved in planning and preparing
supports Elizabeth, who was impacted by British Red Cross staff at the need in the UK and abroad.
severe flooding in Monmouth, south Wales, Senedd Y Farchnad with Wales for emergencies, so we were heartened
during Storm Claudia in November. First Minister, 18 November 2025
“
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Health and care We spent £53.3 million

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025
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Against a backdrop of demands on statutory health and social care services and budgets, the number of people in need of our help grew throughout the year and continues to do so.

We focused on fostering individual resilience with community-based care services, designed to help people through acute health emergencies and empower them to better manage their wellbeing.

British Red Cross A&E volunteer Amelia at University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Photo © Joel Redman / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Health and care

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Working with people and communities

Our goal: Empower people to better manage their wellbeing by delivering community-based care

We supported more than 44,800 people to improve their wellbeing, their quality of life or their confidence and motivation to manage their own health

Enabling people to better manage their wellbeing

Our teams supported people in hospital last year, making their stay more comfortable and relieving pressure on staff. We also helped people to return home after medical treatment and to access non-emergency appointments. We supported people to live at home and maintain their independence by providing care and support, and delivering mobility aids and community equipment.

High intensity use services

Making Every Adult Matter has been

nominated for an Adult Social Care award in collaborative working. Its unified approach supports people experiencing multiple disadvantages. It provides people with a single point of access to a multi-disciplinary team and wraparound support, bringing together professionals from statutory health and care services and local voluntary and community sector organisations.

Our high intensity use (HIU) services supported more than 1,370 people in 2025 who had accessed emergency care more than necessary. We worked with them to improve their long-term health outcomes. Of the people we supported, 76% showed an increase in their ability to manage their own health and 97% showed improved wellbeing at the end of our support.

The Newcastle Drug and Alcohol Focus

Service offers robust support to people who

Our HIU work moves care from hospital settings to the community, and focuses on prevention and resilience. These are key elements of the UK government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England. Our work decreased A&E attendances by 64%, non-elective admissions by 64% and use of ambulances by 57%, saving the NHS more than £7.5 million.*

make high intensity use of health services due to drug and/or alcohol misuse. The levels of alcohol-related need and harm across the North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board, of which Newcastle is part, are the highest in England. Each year over the past five-years – across this care board area – there were, on average, 6,500 A&E attendances and 10,000 unplanned admissions each year relating to alcohol. Initially a one-year project, Newcastle City Council is seeking to extend the service until March 2029.

Alongside our 14 teams working across England with individuals, we also ran three projects in 2025, focusing on key issues: Making Every Adult Matter in Stockport, the Drug and Alcohol Focus Service in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Mental Health Step Down in London.

During 2025, the project saw a 68% reduction in emergency department attendances, a 67% reduction in unplanned admissions and a 57% reduction in ambulance conveyances among those we supported.

• This data excludes London services and is representative of approximately 70% of people supported.

Our work with Eddie

Eddie was attending A&E on a weekly basis by ambulance, with complex health issues including chest pain, diabetes and early-onset dementia.

Our teams gave Eddie space and time to express himself and the issues he was experiencing. These included his daily struggles to read, write, organise his time and prepare meals for himself. He was also lonely and isolated.

We co-ordinated a holistic care package with relevant professionals – his GP, diabetes nurses, care teams, and the psychiatric liaison team. We also helped him re-engage with his local community by enabling him to attend a weekly local disco. We accompanied him to his first session to help him integrate and feel comfortable.

His A&E attendances have now decreased dramatically. He has a cohesive plan of support in place, a revitalised social life and a feeling of belonging.

June with Linda, a British Red Cross Social Prescriber in North Hants. Linda has helped June reconnect with her local community and services to re-establish her independence and confidence.

Photo © Beth Sykes

Photo © Joel Redman / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Health and care

Working with people and communities

Andy, a British Red Cross volunteer, conducts welfare checks at the scene of a gas outage in Haringey, London.

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A British Red Cross A&E volunteer at University Hospital of Photo © Mile 91 / Darren Hardwicke / British Red Cross Wales in Cardiff.

Bill’s* story

Following a two-year hospital stay due to a fall and encephalitis, Bill was discharged into our Home to Assess service. We arranged for safety adaptations to his house, installed handrails, and set up a community alarm system and bin collection.

We also provided Bill with daily meals and helped him arrange and take his medication. Once he was settled, we arranged for him to be helped with his shopping and to get out and about. Over time and through an enablement approach, the service was gradually reduced. Bill showed significant improvement and was later reassessed as having regained capacity. He remains at home with no formal care package needed.

• We have changed Bill’s name to protect his privacy.

Supporting people in the community

unnecessary readmissions, and regain their independence. This follows the success of our Fife and Dundee services, which saw 82% of people we supported remain at home with decreasing packages of care as their health and confidence increased.

We launched new services in Scotland last year to provide care, compassion and practical help to people when they are most vulnerable to crisis: when leaving hospital, when isolated at home, and when in need of reassurance and support to live independently.

Our Support at Home service in Glasgow reduces delayed hospital discharges, helps people resettle at home once they are medically fit, and improves their quality of life. Our Care at Home service for the Falkirk area provides regulated care and high-quality, person-centred support to those who need it.

Our Discharge to Assess service in Aberdeen provides 24/7 wraparound support and assessment at home, helping people return home from hospital sooner, avoid

Our mobility aids and community equipment services

We also helped people remain in their own homes and maintain their independence and dignity by providing over 215,000 toilet aids, specialist beds, hoists, bath lifts, walking frames and other pieces of specialist equipment through our community equipment service.

After seven-year-old Amalie (pictured) fell and broke her leg, her mother hired a wheelchair from our mobility aids service. It meant that Amalie could enjoy days out over the summer and did not miss school during her recovery.

Photo © Supplied/British Red Cross

Our mobility aids hire service delivered over Your words on why you 12,000 wheelchairs and 8,500 other pieces support us: of mobility equipment direct to people’s doors “ I have hired a wheelchair from our distribution hub in Sheffield last year. for my husband at no cost It provided an additional 8,000 wheelchairs and to me and want to donate 7,500 items through our Northern Ireland, to this wonderful service. Norfolk and Hampshire operations.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Health and care

17

Influencing change

Our goal: Ensure UK investment into preventative health and care programmes that prioritise addressing people’s care needs in community settings and promote health equity

We helped NHS England pilot heath checks for people seeking asylum.

We supported an NHS pilot project in England to ensure people in the asylum system receive an initial health check on arrival in contingency asylum accommodation.

We saw two of our key issues referenced in the 10 year Health Plan for England.

The importance of better supporting people who frequently attend A&E and community-based care were both recognised in the 10 year Health Plan for England.

The plan acknowledges the importance of investing in high intensity use services to support people frequently attending A&E and identifies the provision of community-based care closer to home as a priority.

Our Delivering with Dignity report

recommends that everyone seeking asylum should receive an initial health assessment within 10 days of arrival. In partnership with NHS England, the Home Office and the VOICES Network, we worked on a health check pilot to explore how this could be put into practice. The VOICES network is a group of people who all have lived experience of migration and displacement.

Delivering with dignity

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A framework for strengthening commissioning and
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Deliveringwithdignity
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Five VOICES ambassadors participated as peer supporters and shared their insights to help evaluate the project.

The plan also reflects our call to make better use of health data to offer proactive, targeted support. This has the potential to change the lives of people who are most vulnerable to crisis and relieve pressure on the NHS.

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Displacement and migration

We spent £28.0 million

2025 saw numerous fast-paced immigration policy and rule changes from the UK government.

We worked hard to provide practical and emotional support to refugees and people seeking asylum.

Our restoring family links work helped people separated by disasters and emergencies reunite with their families.

Eyob is reunited with his daughter at Heathrow Airport.

Photo © Rory Langdon-Down / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Displacement and migration

Working with people and communities

Our goal: Restore safety, dignity and connection with loved ones for people who are displaced, focusing on the most urgent cases of need 77% of people we supported reported a reduced risk to their safety and wellbeing in 2025; up from 70% in 2024

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UK refugee support

We supported more than 37,900 people last year and undertook more than 250,000 different actions to help people in the asylum system understand their rights and entitlements, access legal and financial support, and find safe housing, education, healthcare and community.

We helped more than 10,950 people experiencing destitution, providing more than £650,000 in cash assistance.

Our holistic, needs-based approach During 2025, we used the Australian Red

The words of people we support:

“ I was in a bad situation and for a few weeks after I contacted the Red Cross I was able to regain the right to life and the safety of life that I could not find anywhere else but the Red Cross who supported me psychologically and financially in the best possible way.

Cross’ Strengths and Needs Assessment

The tool is used with people receiving one-to-one casework support. We are still implementing it across the UK, so this data reflects a subgroup of all the people we supported in 2025.

Framework (SANAF), with some adaptations for the UK context, to ensure we took a

holistic approach.

The SANAF sets out 10 areas of a person’s life – including housing, finances and mental health – which can affect their wellbeing. Our teams consider each individual or family against each area to determine the support they need. By capturing this data regularly, we are able to measure people’s progress, identify risks, better understand the complex needs people are experiencing, and provide more comprehensive and effective support.

Our teams delivered over 2,000 traumainformed mental health and psychosocial support sessions to 2,500 people.

Our survey of those supported by our teams confirmed that 40% of them did not access support from another organisation, group, friend or family member outside of the British Red Cross.

Housing: 71% (n=195) people improved the level of risk related to housing, over half (57%; n=111) moved out of being classed as ‘at risk’.

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My children and children in the household:
79% (n=97) people achieved improvements
for their children. Almost half (40%; n=39)
71%
moved out of being classed as ‘at risk’.
79% 70%
Family and social connections:
54% (n=129) people improved their
social connection.
54% 81% 64%
improved their
overall wellbeing
Identity and culture:
(n=171 people)
People improved their situation
with regards to their identify,
51% 51%
culture and community.
Alcohol and drugs:
Insufficient data available 57%%
for reporting.
53%
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Finance:

70% (n=188) people improved their financial situation; with half (51%; n=95) moving out of being classed as ‘at risk’.

Safety and the law: 64% (n= 130) people improved their level of risk related to safety and the law; 49%(n=64) moving out of being classed as ‘at risk’.

Education and employment: 51% (n= 137) people improved; half of which moved out of being classed as ‘at risk’.

Physical health: 57% (n= 110) people improved their 57%% physical health; over a third of which moved out of being classed as ‘at risk’. Mental health: 53% (n=118) people improved their mental health; 45% of which moved out of being classed as ‘at risk’.

Notes: Change scores calculated for those where a need was identified at the initial assessment (i.e. a score of 1, 2 or 3 from the 5-point scoring scale). ‘At risk’ denoted as those scoring 1 or 2 on the 5-point scoring scale.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Displacement and migration

Working with people and communities

Support for young refugees

We supported more than 6,100 refugees aged between 15 and 25, including 650 children who had arrived unaccompanied by an adult and whose age had been disputed. We helped them navigate complex immigration processes, get access to education, and improve their health and wellbeing through access to healthcare and trauma-informed support.

Clara leads the women’s group at our Hackney Centre

Clara (pictured left) waited 19 years for her asylum claim to be accepted. The experience has left her determined to support others and give back to the organisation that supported her through some of the worst moments of her life. Clara cooks at the British Red Cross Hackney Centre and helps lead the women’s group for refugees and people seeking asylum.

We also helped them build community, confidence and skills by providing group activities in London, Gravesend, Portsmouth, Peterborough, Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow.

The words of people we support:

Clara says: “I shared my experience with the women’s group… I explained what I had gone through. I cried a lot in those sessions. Everybody shared their story. I shared mine. Even before I got my papers, I would come to the centre to cook, because I wanted to help. I still want to help. If there is anything I can do, I will do it. I’m ready because they really helped me and I will forever be grateful. They were there for me. Thank you.”

“ We felt safe, we felt humanity. (Translated) “ With the help of the Red Cross, we were able to find a safe place and I am much better mentally than before. (Translated)

Photo © Serena Brown / British Red Cross

• The “ I contacted Red Cross online and received a call within two hours of having made contact. words of I needed food and was sent Tesco vouchers immediately. Being an asylum seeker with a

• people we complex case, I was first scared of what would happen to my children if I asked for help.

• support: Red Cross assured me and reaffirmed that their interest was in helping me as a family. For the first time in weeks I slept, I had heating (it was winter), and my children and I had food. I didn’t have to only eat one meal a day and pretend to be on a diet so my kids could eat. The Red Cross pointed me to the right direction and contacted government agencies that helped. They basically saved me from a dire situation. I am forever grateful.

The words of people we support:

“

As someone who has no family and friends or support, the support from Red Cross means everything to me. Before I used to be scared and alone. Now I know that I have someone who cares for me. Who knows me and will help me [when I am] in danger. [I] will be forever grateful to the British Red Cross.

Clara speaks to a member of the British Red Cross team at the Hackney Centre.

Photo © Serena Brown / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Displacement and migration

Working with people and communities

Tetyana, a Ukrainian Red Cross Society volunteer, in the family tracing service.

Photo © Ukrainian Red Cross Society

Restoring family links

Our international family tracing team helped more than 6,000 people in their search for missing loved ones last year, and our family reunion team physically reunited 272 families in the UK. This included 680 children, 131 of whom had travelled to the UK without any family members.

British Red Cross staff and volunteers celebrate Refugee Week 2025. Photo © British Red Cross

Government partnerships

Families of Missing Persons conference

Last year, the fourth International Conference for Families of Missing Persons saw 900 families in 50 hubs around the world come together to raise awareness of their missing loved ones.

We worked in strategic partnership throughout the year with the Welsh and Scottish governments to help them enhance the experiences of reunited families. In 2025, these programmes helped approximately 1,500 people to prepare for and start life in a new country together with their loved ones. We trained over 300 public sector agencies and charities, provided strategic advice to government, and influenced policy and practice to improve integration outcomes. The UN Refugee Agency showcased these models as best practice in integration work three times during 2025.

conference, supported by the Yorkshire international family tracing team.

The conference ended with a public statement from the families. It appealed to the media to spread the message, requested support from civil society, asked for legal frameworks and tools to enable them to participate in the search process, and called for the creation of places of remembrance for the missing. Read their full statement.

Designed and organised by families of missing persons, with support from the ICRC Central Tracing Agency and the global Missing Person’s Centre, it gave the families an opportunity to connect, amplify their voices, and learn, heal and hope together.

We hosted a hub in Leeds, where a small group from Syria participated in the

Martha’s story

We worked with Martha (pictured below), a refugee from South Sudan, to find her family. We reunited her with them after 13 years apart – thanks to the Red Cross international family tracing and family reunion services.

Recalling the moment she was reunited with her siblings, Martha said: “When I saw them I just burst into tears. We all cried. We cried a lot at the airport.”

We continued to work with Martha last year to help her integrate into the UK, demonstrating the holistic nature of our refugee services.

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

22

Displacement and migration

Influencing change

Our goal: Expand safe routes and deliver a fair asylum system, with day-one support for all people seeking or granted protection in the UK

We helped secure a visa extension for Ukrainians in the UK.

We published our Planning for Tomorrow Ukrainians in the UK. Ukraine Lessons Learned report, setting We worked in coalition with our partners out the views of more than 1,400 Ukrainians. to secure a two-year extension to visas for It calls for Ukrainians to be given long-term Ukrainians in the UK. protection in the UK and identifies key learnings to strengthen future responses. We also achieved a partial reversal of a policy that means displaced Ukrainians We also raised important issues in our can now sponsor children to join them in updated report ‘Ukrainian families in the UK. the UK still at risk of homelessness’.

Still at Risk: Homelessness among displaced Ukrainians in the UK February 2025 A policy briefing from the British Red Cross Contents Table 3: Core homelessness estimates and projections (households per financial year)[viii] 1) Summary Regions 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 • Introduction North East 67 54 47 50 43 41 39 • Aims and methods Yorkshire and the Humber 168 131 113 119 102 97 93 • Key findings North West 224 169 150 162 139 131 120 East Midlands 114 86 76 83 72 68 64 • Recom ~~mendations~~ West Midlands 187 143 128 142 124 118 110 2) Appendix A: MethodoloSouth West gy 216 166 148 164 142 134 124 3) Appendix B: ~~Forecast tables~~ East of England 175 132 116 125 109 105 100 South East 556 422 378 417 363 343 319 4) Appendix C: ~~Displacement journey~~ Greater London 2,567 1,955 1,683 1,746 1,446 1,341 1,291 5) Endnotes, references and further sources England 4,275 3,257 2,838 3,008 2,539 2,379 2,260 Wales 120 149 129 139 116 104 99 Scotland 270 265 291 316 270 245 247 Estimated Total 4,665 3,671 3,258 3,463 2,926 2,728 2,607 4) Appendix C: Displacement journey We analysed the Office of National Statistics (ONS) surveys of visa holders entering the UK under the Ukraine Humanitarian Schemes to better understand Ukrainians’ experiences of displacement. The ONS has conducted six surveys between May 2022 and April 2024. Stage Indicative milestones (employment/self-reliance) 1 . Reception in the UK . Familiarisation • Having a UK bank account . This rose from with initial accommodation placement 43% in April 2022 to 82% in June 2022, 94% (whether on the Ukraine Sponsorship in July and 97% in Oct–Nov 2022. Scheme or Family Scheme), obtaining • Having 3 months’ worth of funds to cover documentation, engaging with costs . This rose from 26% in April 2022 to For more information about this briefing, please contact Eleanor Paton ( services such as the NHS and schools. [e-mail]) ~~2022.~~ 37% in June–July 2022 to 60% by Oct–Nov . • For some, this first stage may 1 include challenges with the initial accommodation placement and risk of homelessness. 2. Seeking to integrate. Improving • Proficiency/confidence in English language skills, settling into the language skills. For reading, this rose from 40% in April 2022 to 61% in Oct–Nov 2022, 10 Download

Vira (pictured left) came to the UK in November 2022. She worked as a dermatologist in Ukraine, but her qualifications are not recognised in the UK and she has struggled to find work. Vira has had cancer three times, which has left her unable to do manual or strenuous

work. Her partner, an artist and sculptor in Ukraine, has resorted to working in a kitchen factory. Their son has a kidney issue and they receive a disability living allowance, but these payments are in jeopardy if the family can’t confirm their visas have been extended.

Photo © Tori Ferenc / British Red Cross

Photo © Kimberly Hoang / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

23

Displacement and migration

Influencing change

Kamal (pictured above) had to make a sudden decision to seek asylum in the UK during a visit, after friends warned he would be in danger if he returned to Afghanistan. Last year, Kamal successfully applied to be reunited with his family in the UK.

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We published a new report on refugee family reunion.

In 2025, we published a compelling report I Returned to Life: Why Refugee Family Reunion Must be Protected. This included powerful testimonies from people who have used the route to reunite with their family, as well as the thoughts of those who have supported them.

The report secured national media coverage and was launched in the House of Commons. It has received interest from politicians and others,

Our work influenced the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee’s work on asylum accommodation.

Our evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry on asylum accommodation led to its recommendation that vulnerability assessments are undertaken for people in asylum accommodation.

We connected the Committee to VOICES Network Ambassadors and users of our refugee services to ensure it took the views

and will support our work in 2026 to ensure that this vital route to safety remains accessible for refugee families.

of people with lived experience into account. Our director of refugee support and restoring family links also gave evidence on the issues in Parliament.

Our recommendations, including standard vulnerability screenings, better safeguarding and improved communication, were strongly reflected in the Committee’s fnal report, where our evidence was cited 22 times.

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‘I returned
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why refugee family reunion
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October 2025
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Home Affairs Committee The Home Office’s management of asylum accommodation

Fourth Report of Session 2024–26 HC 580

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British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

24

Our work across the world

We spent £110.7 million

2025 was a pivotal year for the humanitarian sector. Humanitarian need continued to grow and financial pressures profoundly impacted the sector’s ability to respond. The UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator called for a fundamental reorganisation of how international humanitarian aid is structured and delivered – the ‘humanitarian reset’, highlighting localisation as a central priority. With National Societies active in 191 countries, and a long-standing commitment to supporting locally led action, we are well placed to contribute meaningfully to this agenda.

Across 2025, the British Red Cross supported more than 1.4 million people worldwide. The year also underlined the enduring relevance of our fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. Sixty years after their adoption, these principles continued to guide our work on the ground and shape our humanitarian diplomacy at the global level.

In 2025, an unpredictable and fastchanging global landscape posed severe challenges. But our principles still ring true. They guide us through adversity. They command respect. They make us unique.

Nadiia, a Ukrainian Red Cross volunteer, conducts a creative activity with children to support memory and motor skills in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine.

Photo © Iva Sidash / British Red Cross

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Our work across the world

25

Empowering National Societies to respond to emergencies

Goal: Equip and empower National Societies to respond immediately in a crisis and support them to distribute cash rapidly to address urgent needs

Gaza

hostages to Israeli authorities and 1,808 Palestinian detainees to Gaza and the West Bank. The ICRC also transferred the remains of 27 out of 28 deceased hostages and 360 deceased Palestinian detainees.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remained catastrophic throughout 2025, despite the ceasefire agreement in October. Families faced hunger and unimaginable hardship. They needed support urgently.

Paramedics load a patient into an ambulance outside the Red Cross field Photo © Arete / British Red Cross hospital, Gaza.

We supported National Society partners in Eswatini, Lebanon, Nigeria and Nepal to put in place emergency funding mechanisms to enable them to respond quickly to a crisis.

At the British Red Cross we remained extremely concerned about the lives and welfare of the hostages held in Gaza throughout 2025. We continued to call for their unconditional release and for the ICRC to have access to them so it could check on their wellbeing, provide them with medicine, and connect them with loved ones.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society and the International Committee of the Red Cross – despite risks to their lives and a lack of food – worked tirelessly to get help to people who most needed it.

The Red Cross feld hospital, which is supported by 12 National Societies including the British Red Cross, treated more than 3,400 weapon-wounded patients between May and December 2025 – more than during the whole of 2024.

We also supported National Societies to respond to new emergencies in Myanmar, Jamaica and the Philippines, and ongoing emergencies in places including Ukraine, Afghanistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Eswatini.

Following the ceasefire in October, the ICRC facilitated the return of 20 Israeli

Carrie (pictured right), a volunteer nurse at the Red Cross field hospital in Gaza, said:

“ It’s been incredibly busy. We’re having masscasualty incidents almost every day — sometimes twice a day.

Photo © ICRC / British Red Cross

Palestine Red Crescent Society teams support children affected by conflict-related trauma.

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The IFRC responds in Jamaica

Photo © Abood Al Sayd / Arete / British Red Cross

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Empowering National Societies to respond to emergencies

Israel

In 2025 an outbreak of conflict between Israel and Iran deepened humanitarian suffering.

Magen David Adom in Israel and the Iranian Red Crescent Society responded to the conflict by providing life-saving medical care and humanitarian services in their countries.

Sudan

Sudan is currently facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than two years of conflict has killed an estimated 150,000 people and left millions struggling without food, clean water or healthcare. Over 30 million people – more than two-thirds of Sudan’s population – need humanitarian aid.

The Sudanese Red Crescent Society, the ICRC, the IFRC, the British Red Cross and other National Societies worked together last year to support people in all 18 states of Sudan.

We raised money for the country through our Disaster Fund, and attempted to increase visibility of the crisis through the media, but it is still not receiving the attention its severity merits. We will continue to raise awareness of the situation in Sudan in 2026.

Ukraine

The conflict continued to cause misery and suffering in 2025 across Ukraine, Russia and the wider region. In Ukraine, many homes, hospitals and schools were damaged, forcing further evacuations and leaving many without access to food, water and electricity.

Our Movement was there to support those that need us and since 2022 it has reached 23 million people with support. The Ukrainian Red Cross Society worked throughout the year to bring hope and support, from distributing food parcels to treating people at Red Cross mobile health units across the country.

Photo © Iva Sidash / British Red Cross

Photo © Mykhaylo Palinchak / British Red Cross

Maksym and Oleksandra (pictured right) are both serving as Ukrainian Red Cross Society emergency response volunteers in Kyiv. In the wake of missile and drone attacks, they provide first aid, transport for the injured and general support for the emergency services.

Nadiia (left), a Ukrainian Red Cross Society volunteer, carries a backpack with the supplies she needs to provide psychological first aid in Lozova, Ukraine. Nadiia registers internally displaced people for financial support and provides psychosocial assistance for both children and adults.

An operation at the burns unit in Kyiv

(pictured left). At the facility, both military and civilian patients receive care for some of the most severe burns cases. Since 2024, the British Red Cross has worked with the ICRC to support the hospital – sending burns specialists; purchasing equipment, supplies and medication; renovating sections of the building; and providing training for Ukrainian medical personnel.

Photo © Mykhalo Palinchack / British Red Cross

Afghanistan

The Afghan Red Crescent Photo © IFRC respond to the earthquakes.

Massive earthquakes in August and November further devastated a country already reeling from natural disasters and years of conflict. The earthquakes killed thousands, destroyed homes and damaged vital infrastructure. Many families were left without clean water and basic sanitation. Already high, levels of hunger and malnutrition got worse.

The Afghan Red Crescent and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement provided essential aid, supported searchand-rescue efforts, distributed blankets and clean water, and helped people find shelter.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Our work across the world

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Empowering National Societies to respond to emergencies

Providing cash assistance

Nigeria

Cash is a critical part of our humanitarian response. It is an efficient, effective and transparent way of supporting people affected by crisis. Evidence shows that in many circumstances people prefer cash over other forms of support because it is more dignified and gives them independence and choice. It also supports local markets and the local economy. Cash addresses people’s immediate needs and contributes to long-term recovery.

The British Red Cross is responsible for overseeing the Cash Hub, which aims to accelerate the use of cash assistance in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Amina (pictured right) fled

More than 13 years of conflict in Syria has left millions of people without access to work, education, water, shelter or healthcare. The fighting has also caused mass displacement, with 6 million Syrians fleeing their homes, creating a refugee crisis in Syria and neighbouring countries. Last year, saw the conflict deepen following the overthrow of the government in December 2024. We worked with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) to provide cash, food, mattresses, blankets and vital services to people in Syria and Syrian refugees in nearby countries.

Amina (pictured right) fled Syria Tadmor during the war. She used to work at a university in the city, but now makes a living by collecting and selling recyclable plastics. She can only leave her husband, Mohammed, for 15 minutes at a time, due to his health. Earlier this year, Amina received cash support from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which she used to buy medicine for Mohammed, clothes and food. Amina said: “When I received the cash from SARC it was like a dream. At first, I cried, realising I could actually buy food.” Photo © Nye Williams / British Red Cross

Lebanon

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Amina (pictured above) is coordinator of the Sokoto State Mother’s Club we support, which helps women to develop income-generating activities. It also provides them with information about health, nutrition, hygiene and climate change.

Nigeria is facing multiple humanitarian crises. Millions of people are going hungry and living in poverty. In April 2025, the Nigerian government declared a state of emergency due to food insecurity. Five million children aren’t getting the nutrition they need to grow and stay healthy. Nearly 1 million pregnant or breastfeeding women are affected, too. We worked in partnership with the Nigerian Red Cross throughout 2025 to help local health teams provide food, care and treatment.

Ram, a volunteer with the Lebanese Red Cross, assesses families who have fled Photo © Tamara Saade / or lost their homes to connect them to British Red Cross our cash assistance programme.

In 2025, Lebanon navigated a fragile ceasefire following the 13-month war that ended in late 2024. Many families were displaced and deprived of basic necessities like food, blankets and medical care. The British Red Cross worked in partnership with the Lebanese Red Cross to help get cash into the hands of families in desperate need of support as quickly as possible.

More than 86,000 children have now been screened for malnutrition. Those diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition have been referred to a community-based treatment programme.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

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Accelerating community-led climate resilience

Goal: Accelerate community-led climate resilience through global partnerships

We worked with National Societies in

Anticipatory action

Ethiopia and Kenya to protect people at risk of the impacts of the climate crisis. We also contributed to reviews of flood and drought protocols in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Zambia, Paraguay, Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Chad and Cape Verde.

Last year, we strengthened early action systems in places at risk of flooding, drought, food shortages and cholera by working with National Societies and partners to improve hazard mapping and early-warning protocols.

We worked in partnership with National Societies in Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Bangladesh to strengthen locally driven resilience initiatives

Your words on why you support us:

“ It is simply not acceptable that any human being is without access to the very basic resources of food, water and shelter that I have and take for granted.

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In Bangladesh, we helped coastal communities use rainwater harvesting and solarised systems – as well as agricultural adaptation and engineering solutions – to address soil salinity and support their climate resilience.

Nature-based solutions

Last year, we worked with a network of National Societies and the World Wildlife Fund to help communities protect and restore nature, build resilience and safeguard their livelihoods. Our work improved water safety, reduced cholera cases, supported climate-smart agriculture and strengthened connections to local markets to improve food security and livelihoods.

In Nepal, we worked with local authorities to help more than 2,300 people adopt climate-smart initiatives such as riverbed farming, riverbank bioengineering, agroforestry, and pond restoration. Our biodiversity conservation work, delivered in partnership with the National Trust for Nature Conservation, helped protect critical habitats for endangered species, including the Indian pangolin and river dolphins.

In Lamu County, Kenya, we planted or restored 300 hectares of mangrove forests and helped reduce the flood risk to 600 hectares of inland ecosystems. We also improved access to safe water for more than 2,800 households.

Community-led bio-engineering works in Nepal to protect arable land from floods.

Photo © Dhruba Man Pradhan

The mangrove restoration Photo © Gidraph Mbugua / British Red Cross project in Lamu, Kenya.

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Accelerating community-led climate resilience

Gender, inclusion and locally-led adaptation

We ran mothers’ clubs, women’s cooperatives, and Y-Adapt youth initiatives in over 20 countries during 2025, including Nepal, Kenya and Somalia. These community programmes strengthen our water, hygiene and sanitation work, and our climate-smart agriculture initiatives by sharing information and best practice effectively with key members of the community.

Kenya Red Cross teams support people impacted Photo © Kenyan Red Cross by El Niño-amplified rainfalls in Tana River, Kenya.

by El Niño-amplified rainfalls in Tana River, Kenya.

Climate displacement and migration

We co-developed, piloted and launched two Movement-wide initiatives to help National Societies improve the quality and safety of their support to people impacted by climate change and other crises. Our capability assessment tool helps National Societies identify strengths and gaps in their programmes. National Societies in Chad, Kenya, Romania, New Zealand and Uganda have already used it to inform their action plans. We trained more than 4,000 staff and volunteers from almost 100 National Societies to deliver safer, more effective migration assistance.

Community engagement and accountability

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Throughout 2025, we provided strategic support to National Societies in Chad, Nepal, Lebanon and Zimbabwe to institutionalise community engagement and accountability through financial and technical assistance. This enabled us to improve community feedback, increase community groups’ involvement in our services and programmes, and further enhance community trust in National Society partners.

An Ecolab project in Nepal. Photo © Nepal Red Cross Society

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Driving humanitarian policy change

Goal: Drive humanitarian policy change and strengthen international humanitarian law in complex crises

We provided support to National Societies dealing with complex crises in Afghanistan, Chad, Ethiopia, Gaza, Syria, Türkiye and Ukraine. As the conflict in Sudan worsened in 2025, we increased our focus on it

We also worked with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) to facilitate direct engagement with UK officials, leading think-tanks and major media outlets. This raised awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and highlighted the SRCS’s vital role in negotiating humanitarian access and delivering principled aid. We also met with Movement partners in Addis Ababa to consolidate SRCS’s humanitarian diplomacy strategy, creating a working group chaired by SRCS with the British Red Cross as secretariat. These efforts strengthened SRCS’s influence with other governments and international actors.

Our humanitarian diplomacy work with National Societies in areas affected by conflict

Our CEO Béatrice Butsana-Sita speaks at an event to mark the anniversary of the fundamental principles. Photo © Supplied / British Red Cross

Throughout 2025, we supported the Palestine Red Crescent Society to develop humanitarian diplomacy priorities and messaging on key issues relating to the conflict in Gaza. We organised high-level engagements for its leadership with key members of the UK government. This significantly raised its profile in the UK and strengthened the FCDO’s commitment to it as a partner.

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Palestine Red Crescent
Society staff members
making the necessary
checks before issuing
aid at a distribution
Photo © Abood Al Sayd / Arete / British Red Cross point in Gaza.
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60th anniversary of the fundamental principles

We celebrated the 60th anniversary of our fundamental principles in October with talks, an event, and a global webinar series alongside the IFRC and our Movement partners.

These activities fostered peer learning and explored the principles’ enduring relevance to our work on preparedness, humanitarian diplomacy, and . protection of personnel

Your words on why you support us:

“Because you are impartial and help whoever is in need. I want the little I can offer to go to who needs it without judgement or preference.

Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law A Practitioner’s Legal Handbook

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Publication of ‘Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law: A Practitioner’s Legal Handbook’

We worked with the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence to support the publication of a handbook setting out the rules of international humanitarian law that seek to avoid and mitigate food insecurity in armed conflict. ‘Conflict, Hunger and International Humanitarian Law: A Practitioner’s Legal Handbook’ was launched at an event featuring a panel of government officials and academics at the FCDO in May.

The handbook is designed to be an accessible and practical guide to support the UK government’s broader efforts to prevent and address food insecurity and famine around the world.

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Our work to
drive us forward
Pauline has been volunteering with
the British Red Cross for 61 years,
Photo © Supplied / British Red Cross Pauline pictured second from left with having joined the Movement in 1964.
fellow British Red Cross volunteers.
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Our people Volunteering and engaging young people

Our goal: Grow and empower a vibrant movement of volunteers and young people to take action and support their communities

We attracted growing numbers of people who want to volunteer with us

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Empowering volunteers and young people to contribute to our mission

During 2025, we attracted growing numbers of people who want to volunteer with us, receiving over 17,000 applications – an increase of 8% on 2024.

We worked hard to attract more volunteers and young people by improving the experience of applicants and by developing new opportunities for people to give their time. This included reducing how long it takes us to recruit a prospective volunteer – from an average of 34 days from application to completed training in 2024, to 32 days in 2025.

In total, we welcomed 4,638 new volunteers. Improvements to our processes to drive high levels of training compliance among our volunteers and ensure our data is accurate have meant that the total number of active volunteers recorded on our database has fallen slightly since 2024 to 9,877. However, we are confident the new and improved ways we attract volunteers will support our growth strategy in 2026.

Volunteer and youth representation

In addition to our Youth Leadership Team, we also appointed our first young person trustee last year. They began their formal term on 1 January 2026. This is a significant moment – the final step in fulfilling all IFRC’s six key measures of quality youth engagement. The recruitment was restricted to our existing volunteers and to a person under 30. It was supported by the Young People in Decision Making programme, which advances youth engagement in our governance, through activities including a two-day residential trustee ‘deep dive’, and governancefocused trustee surgeries.

We sought to empower volunteers and young people to have a greater voice, through co-production and participation in our governance.

We empowered our volunteers to contribute to decision-making at all levels of our organisation to help us drive continuous improvement. We attracted a further 25 volunteers onto our volunteer representation network, bringing the total number to 54. This includes four young volunteers – a 75% increase in the number of young people in the network since the start of the year. This is incredibly important, as young volunteers – aged under 26 – now make up 23% of our overall volunteer base.

Photo © Jonathan Banks / British Red Cross

Young volunteers at our youth conference.

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Our people
Volunteering and engaging
young people
SafeMates volunteers at
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Opportunities for young people to join our Movement

Experience and connection

Operation Puddleduck

More than a thousand young people participated in Operation Puddleduck last year. These interactive role-play sessions involved young people making key decisions during a flooding emergency. They demonstrated the importance of the voluntary and community sector, and encouraged young people to take action to support their communities.

Youth Connect

SafeMates

Our Youth Connect conference, led by our Youth Leadership Team, was attended by nearly 100 young volunteers, facilitators and staff. They travelled from across the UK to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the fundamental principles, network with senior leaders and share exciting ideas to build future connections.

We ran SafeMates hubs at events throughout the year, including Youth Connect, the European and Central Asian Red Cross Youth Network Youth Assembly, and Derry Halloween Festival. This peer-support programme is run by our trained youth volunteers who provide compassionate, non-judgemental assistance and signposting to young people in need. They can be identified by the branded red hoodies they wear.

The value our volunteers and young people bring to our movement Our volunteers are the lifeblood of our organisation, giving up their time to help others and demonstrating the very best values of our Movement. Volunteers support us across our UK services, our social enterprises, in fundraising and beyond. We are incredibly proud that our volunteers regularly feature in honours lists. Last year, six of our young volunteers won a Young Humanitarian Award.

Our volunteer survey Our volunteer survey found enthusiasm remains strong among our volunteers, with an engagement score of 79% – 12 percentage points higher than the UK non-profit benchmark. This demonstrates our volunteers are proud and passionate about supporting us.

We have secured support from Cashback to Communities Scotland to develop SafeMates across Scotland from 2026.

We’ve pinpointed key areas for improvement, such as enhancing opportunities for volunteers to experience diverse activities, perceive the positive outcomes of changes, and feel confident that their feedback will lead to action.

Photo © British Ceremonial Arts.

From left: Recipients of the Queen’s Badge of Honour, Gill Moffat (a volunteer from Aberdeen) and Wendy Solesbury MBE (a volunteer from Oxfordshire) SafeMates volunteers at and recipients of the King’s Badge of Honour, Mairi Allan (a staff member from our London office. Photo © Johnathan Banks / British Red Cross Edinburgh) and Grahame Roberts (a volunteer from Cheshire).

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Our people

Our staff

Our goals: Build a culture where our people feel valued, able to learn and grow, and are fairly rewarded And: Develop a culture of equity and trust, where all our people are actively inclusive

We use the answers to our staff and volunteer culture survey to measure how positive our people feel about their work. In 2025 we saw an improvement to our engagement score, which grew to 66%

Building a culture of equity and trust

During 2025, we took significant steps to embed equity, inclusion and trust at the heart of our organisation. These efforts reflect our commitment to creating an environment where every colleague feels valued, supported and empowered to thrive.

A new people strategy

To support our ambition of achieving Strategy 2030, we launched a new people strategy in 2025. It has three focus areas – inspiration, performance and culture – and 12 key priorities to enable the organisation and its people to deliver against all the Strategy 2030 goals.

Updated leadership framework

We introduced a refreshed leadership framework designed to emphasise not only what we deliver but how we deliver it. This approach prioritises collaboration, inclusion and personal growth, ensuring that leadership behaviours align with our organisational values and foster trust across all levels. We have embedded this framework into a refreshed approach to managing performance.

New learning offer

We launched a comprehensive learning and development offer in 2025, making opportunities more visible and accessible to all staff. It includes quarterly learning packs, leadership development workshops, and a refreshed approach to performance management, enabling colleagues to learn through experience, exposure and education.

Sarah Clayton-Fisher MBE, the British Red Cross head of region: Photo © Lesley Lau / British Red Cross Africa and overseas branches.

Trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial support

Our mental health and psychosocial support team delivered traumainformed mental health and psychosocial support to more than 2,900 people last year. This included people supported by our refugee and UK crisis teams, as well as our staff and volunteers themselves to help them deliver the support required of them.

Equity, diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing structure

We strengthened our equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and wellbeing function with a refreshed strategy and dedicated team. This structure provides specialist advice, champions inclusive practices, and ensures wellbeing remains a priority. Initiatives include anti-racism learning, equitable recruitment, and meaningful engagement with diversity networks and those with lived experience.

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Our organisation

Reducing our carbon footprint Our goal: Reduce our carbon footprint to net zero 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030

Reducing our carbon footprint while strengthening our humanitarian impact

Net-zero commitment

We have set a strategic goal to reduce our carbon footprint to net zero, in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) methodology.

In 2025, we strengthened our approach to climate change as a growing humanitarian emergency, embedding climate considerations across preparedness, response and recovery. Alongside this, we continue to reduce our carbon footprint by cutting emissions from our operations and integrating sustainability into everyday decision-making.

We initially set a target to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 70% by 2030 against our 2019 baseline. Through investment in green energy and the continued optimisation of our building estate and fleet of vehicles, we exceeded this target ahead of schedule, achieving a 75% reduction in 2025.

Building on this progress, we have set a more ambitious near-term target to reduce combined scope 1, 2 and a defined subset of scope 3 emissions by 45% by 2030. We will continue to improve data coverage and publish our progress regularly.

Photo © Adele Perkins / British Red Cross

An aluminium can is put in a recycling bin at our London office.

Our progress in 2025

Awareness and engagement

We strengthened staff and volunteer engagement on sustainability with the launch of the Green Responders Network. It now has over 150 members championing environmental action in their roles. We also began publishing our Sustainability Matters newsletter, which shares practical tips for reducing our carbon footprint and highlights inspiring stories from across the organisation. To track progress, we have also introduced sustainability questions into our annual staff survey, providing valuable insights into awareness and impact.

Policy and governance

We published our Environmental Sustainability Policy, which sets out clear responsibilities and a consistent approach to managing and reducing our environmental impact across the organisation. The policy embeds sustainability into decision-making, supports compliance with relevant standards, and underpins our commitment to continual improvement. We also published our Carbon Reduction Plan, outlining our pathway to net zero by 2045 and our progress to date.

Environmental Impact Assessment tool

We developed a digital tool to systematically identify, monitor and minimise the environmental impacts of our projects, policies and procedures.

Procurement with purpose

We have embedded sustainability into our procurement and tendering processes. Environmental requirements are now integrated into all major contracts. We assess suppliers on their own net-zero commitments, ensuring they share our climate goals and strengthen our ability to meet our carbon reduction targets while driving broader sustainability progress in our supply chain.

Green our supply and reduce demand

We significantly reduced our reliance on fossil fuels by introducing new electricity and biogas contracts that are backed up by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) and Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin (RGGO). This has helped us achieve market-based reductions in electricity (93%) and gas (81%) emissions compared with 2019.

Sustainable retail initiatives

Our retail teams expanded our portfolio of creative reuse initiatives, such as upcycling damaged items for resale and selling ‘unsellable’ garment fabric to a third-party company to make pet products. These projects have helped us extend the lifecycle of damaged items, reduce our waste-related emissions and increase our income to help more people in crisis.

Sustainable travel

We started measuring the carbon impact of hotel stays as part of business travel, which has contributed to a small year-on-year change in reported business travel emissions. Alongside this, we relaunched our travel policy with a renewed focus on sustainability.

Waste

We included waste within our scope 3 carbon calculations for the first time, using 2022 as the baseline year. We have seen a steady year-on-year reduction in waste and an increase in recycling rates, supported by improved data visibility and enhanced waste segregation, including the introduction of additional recycling facilities.

Working from home

We reported emissions associated with working from home for the first time as part of our scope 3 disclosures. This reflects our transition to hybrid working and reduced reliance on operational buildings, with methodologies to be refined over time.

Red Cross Training

We continued to embed sustainability into Red Cross Training operations by reselling equipment through our e-Commerce team (repurposing training dressings), increasing our use of QR codes in course materials to reduce printing and cutting our use of flipchart paper by 30%. We also have a continued commitment to certification in ISO 20121 (Event Sustainability) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management System).

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Our organisation

Reducing our carbon footprint

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Report 2025

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Measure Detail Unit 2019 2024 2025 2025 vs 2025 vs
(baseline) (baseline) 2024
Energy consumption used to calculate carbon emissions in the tables below kWh 15,284,687 8,837,078 8,011,045 48% 9.3%
Total number of employees used to normalise data and calculate intensity ratio FTE 3,354 3,286 3,108 7% 5.4%
Mandatory reported carbon (tCO2e)
Scope 1 Gas (mix of location and market-based) tCO2e 1,137 558 217 81% 61%
Scope 1 Fuel – transport/fleet tCO2e 2,186 1,223 1,014 54% 17%
Scope 2 Electricity (market-based) tCO2e 2,305 445 165 93% 63%
Scope 3 Grey fleet (staff and volunteers in their own cars) tCO2e 1,761 949 701 60% 26%
Optional reported carbon (tCO2e)
Scope 3 Transmission and distribution (not included in scope 1 & 2) tCO2e 1,462 774 415 72% 46%
Scope 3 Waste (baseline year 2022) tCO2e 196 134 99 49% 26%
Scope 3 Employee commuting tCO2e 1,836 967 919 50% 5%
Scope 3 Working from home tCO2e 20 420 412 -1,960% 2%
Scope 3 Business travel (air, rail and hotels) tCO2e 2,752 1,441 1,134 59% 21%
Total carbon emissions Scope 1 & scope 2 tCO2e 5,628 2,226 1,396 75% 37%
Total gross carbon emissions per FTE Scope 1 & 2 per full-time employee tCO2e/FTE 1.68 0.68 0.45 73% 34%
Total gross carbon emissions Scope 1, 2 and subset of 3 (travel & waste) tCO2e 13,655 6,910 5,076 63% 27%
Total gross carbon emissions Scope 1, 2 and subset scope 3 per full-time employee tCO2e/FTE 4.07 2 2 60% 22%
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• In this report we have further widened our reporting of scope 3 categories to give increased transparency around our emissions. We continue to do work to establish our carbon reporting boundary (in line with the GHG protocol) and we intend to have this boundary defined and included in our next annual report, where we will also provide our reasoning on any excluded categories.

Notes and assumptions

tCO2e refers to ‘tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent’. FTE refers to ‘total average number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff’.

All emissions factors are taken from the UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting.

An ‘operational control’ approach has been used to define the greenhouse gas emissions boundary and does not reflect the entire carbon footprint of the organisation. Gas and electricity – KWH usage is predominately taken from validated and verified utility supplier invoices. However a small portion of properties not on the national contracts have been estimated using a spend-based approach. We have reported a market-based result for electricity (full year renewable electricity) and gas (from April 2025). Fuel and grey fleet data is taken from company fleet data and an internal expenses accounting system.

*Waste – baseline year for waste data is 2022 owing to unreliable supplier data in 2019.

Business travel for 2024 has been recalculated due to an error in supplier CO2 reporting. Revised data shows business travel emissions for 2024 are higher than what was previously reported. We have included emissions from hotel stays for 2019, 2024 and 2025.

Employee commuting has been estimated using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol average data method. Due to the absence of employee-level commuting data, UK national average commuting emissions per employee per day were applied to total FTE headcount, alongside assumptions on average office attendance. This provides a high-level baseline estimate which will be refined as more specific data becomes available.

Total gross carbon emissions*

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- Scope one emissions
15k are those we generate
13,655
directly by, for instance,
running our vehicles.
- Scope two emissions
10k are those caused by the
energy produced on our
behalf, e.g. electricity.
6,910
- Scope three emissions
5,076 are all indirect
5k
emissions that occur
from activities such as
employees’ commuting,
waste disposal, and
the production of
0
2019 2024 2025 purchased goods
and services.
Scope 1 – Total Scope 2 – Total Scope 3 (subset) – travel and waste
e
2
Emissions in tCO
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Avoided emissions

We report avoided emissions separately 15,000 tCO2e to provide additional context on the wider avoided environmental benefits of reuse and circularby buying second-hand economy activity, alongside – not instead (estimated, non Scope 1-3) of – our operational emissions reporting.

Last year, we started to quantify our avoided emissions – the estimate of greenhouse gas emissions that may not have occurred, associated with the purchase of second-hand clothing and household items through our retail shops.

This figure is indicative and will continue to be refined as data quality and sector methodologies improve.

Homeworking captures the emissions caused by the use of heating and office equipment when staff work from home (we have based assumptions on HR data contracts).

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Our organisation

Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support for people in crisis Our goal: Attract increasing levels of income, test new ideas and inspire support for people in crisis Increased levels of income year on year

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who supported us last year by fundraising, donating money or items, shopping with us, or choosing to give a gift in their will for a lasting legacy. Every action you made to support us – no matter how small – helped support those most in need in the UK and overseas.

Our supporters

Thank you to our partners and philanthropic supporters

The generosity of our passionate partners and philanthropic supporters also helped us reach millions of people in crisis last year.

We worked with business, government, philanthropists, trusts and foundations, who amplified our mission, accelerating our impact and helping us reach more communities in need.

Many of our supporters gave us multiyear strategic funding, helping us drive sustainable and lasting change. While some gave to specific areas or appeals, many chose to provide flexible funding, enabling us to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies as they arose.

Postcode Lottery In partnership with the Postcode Lottery, We are grateful for support awarded we created Hope Street (pictured below), to us from the funds raised by a temporary immersive installation outside players of the Postcode Lottery. London’s Battersea Power Station. It This incredible funding has helped showcased stories of hope and resilience from strengthen local leadership, people rebuilding their lives after emergencies accelerate community resilience to across the world, including in Syria, Türkiye climate change, expand dignified and Ukraine. It recognised the incredible cash assistance, and provide aid for impact of funds raised by players and other those in crisis. supporters.

Photo © PinPep / British Red Cross

Thank you to all our legators Last year we received a legacy from the late Dr Richard Ainley Firth. For 35 years, every May, Richard organised a team of 10 volunteers to go out and collect for the British Red Cross in his village. His wife Janet shared that even at his funeral, people reminded her that they were ‘one of Richard’s Red Cross collectors’.

Your words on why you support us:

“I will always support the British Red Cross for all the fantastic work they do across the world.

Photo © Peter Flude / British Red Cross

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Our organisation

Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support for people in crisis

Pears Foundation

Our partnership with the Pears Foundation has helped us lay the foundations for a bold, strategic programme. It is helping to promote and embed humanitarian values and international humanitarian law more deeply with governments, decisionmakers and the public. Together, we are aiming to empower the next generation, support frontline humanitarian actors, and influence policy at the highest levels. Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) JOA contributed to our Cash Hub last year, helping Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies provide fast, safe and accountable cash assistance in emergencies. JOA has renewed its support for 2026-27, funding the Cash Hub and programmes in the Sahel, Syria and Lebanon. It also backed emergency appeals for Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2025, and supported a recovery programme in Ukraine.

The Jamaica Red Cross distributes shelter kits, food items, water, blankets and tarpaulins to people Photo © Iva Sidash / British Red Cross affected by Hurricane Melissa.

The Championships 2025

Our relationship with the All England Lawn Tennis Club continued to flourish at Wimbledon’s historic Championships. It offered tickets to displaced people and refugees, creating moments of joy and welcome. We also brought together partners and supporters on the opening day of The Championships, helping us grow our Movement and deepen engagement. Play video

Love All In 2025, we celebrated five years of partnership with the Wimbledon Foundation . Together, we inspire action, engage new audiences, raise vital funds and strengthen community resilience. To mark the anniversary, British Red Cross staff and volunteers gathered on No.1 Court to spell out a powerful message of unity, highlighting the shared values at the heart of our work.

Photo © Damien Fulton Naylor / IFRC

Svitlana, a social helper from the Home-Based Care project for vulnerable, older and isolated people in Ukraine, run by the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and supported by the British Red Cross.

Florence, a community health promoter, supports Sudanese refugees in Kenya.

Photo © Sarah Waiswa / British Red Cross

Disaster Relief Alliance

Disaster Relief Alliance members – Aviva, Barclays, Defender, Haleon, John Lewis Partnership, Reckitt, The TK Maxx & Homesense Foundation and the Wimbledon Foundation – have invested in the full cycle of disaster response. Their support helps communities build resilience, and respond to, and recover from, emergencies. Last year, they supported a range of projects worldwide, including in the UK, Myanmar, Sudan, the Philippines and Jamaica.

Disaster Fund

The Fidelis Foundation, Linklaters and RSM UK Foundation were just some of the many organisations that supported our Disaster Fund last year. This flexible fund allows us to provide immediate aid, help communities recover from crisis, and be better prepared for future emergencies. It supported our Hurricane Melissa response, and work in Myanmar, Sudan and beyond.

Professional advisors

Throughout 2025, we continued to grow our trusted network of professional advisors, including Goldman Sachs. Their willingness to work closely with us – deepening their understanding of our mission and the realities facing the communities we support – is invaluable. It enables their clients to give with confidence, knowing their support reflects their values, philanthropic goals and desired impact.

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Our organisation

Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support for people in crisis

Closer to home

Building on the success of ‘Here for humanity’, our brand campaign reached new heights in 2025. We partnered with Channel 4 to showcase our new ‘Closer to home’ adverts, which were watched over 30 million times. These adverts aligned with our new five-year brand strategy, centring on the theme of hope. We surveyed people’s response to our brand campaign, and 47% of people said it made them feel hopeful.[1]

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We were the UK public’s most trusted charity to help people impacted by the international crises in Gaza and Myanmar last year.[2]

Photo © Tamara Saade / British Red Cross

Fatimeh, a recipient of the cash aid from the Lebanese Red Cross, stands in the remains of her house with Lebanese Red Cross disaster management officers.

A man carries away an aid box from a distribution Photo © Abood Al Syed / Arete / British Red Cross point in Gaza.

Inspiring support for people in crisis

Raising awareness of humanitarian emergencies and our mission We continued to increase the visibility of humanitarian crises in the UK and around the world last year, and the Movement’s response – maintaining high trust levels among the public and protecting the reputation of the organisation. We secured more than 22,130 pieces of media coverage, helping us reach new audiences with the stories of the people we support and our work to reach those in crisis.

We used social media to amplify awareness of our mission, attract new supporters and volunteers, and strengthen our ability to respond to humanitarian needs. We saw growth in engagement across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Whatsapp, with impressions on Instagram alone reaching 11.3 million.

Thanks to compelling campaigns, creativity and commitment, the communications team were recognised at the Charity Times Awards as PR team of the year.

Our Chair Liz Padmore and HM The King with Tom Bannister, one of our garden designers in our Here for Humanity garden.

Photo © Ollie Dixon

Pictured in our Here for Humanity garden: Our Chair Liz Padmore with British Red Cross celebrity ambassador Rob Rinder, our CEO Béatrice Butsana-Sita, Jason Isaacs and our garden designers Tom Photo © Anna Gordon / British Red Cross Bannister and John Warland.

The Chelsea Flower Show The British Red Cross partnered with garden designers John Warland and Tom Bannister to create the Here for Humanity garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, inspired by Red Cross founder Henry Dunant. Approximately 160,000 visitors attended the show, and we had staff and volunteers on hand to talk with them about our impact in times of crisis, and encourage donations and volunteering.

The garden won a prestigious gold medal and received extensive national, specialist and broadcast media coverage, including appearing in the BBC weather bulletins. This reached millions of people with the story of our work and its enduring importance. Support from HM The King, JB Gill, Amanda Holden, Alex Hassell and London mayor Sadiq Khan also helped amplify engagement.

1. (Source: Pre and post brand campaign survey. Sample size: 4,000). 2. Based on BRC polling conducted via Opinium; 2,000 UK adults 18+, nationally representative, conducted 21-25 February 2025 (Myanmar) and 31 Oct to 4 Nov 2025 (Gaza and affected areas).

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Our organisation

Our retail sustainability work

Attracting increasing levels of income and inspiring support for people in crisis

Our shops Thanks to your generosity, and the work of our volunteers and staff, our high street and online shops raised £36.9 million in 2025. More than 5,700 people volunteered with us across the country to help sell second-hand items, and connect people to our work. We opened new shops in Fulham, Norwich and Morpeth, and refitted 25 existing stores to improve customers’ Goods being bagged up Photo © Anna Gordon / British Red Cross shopping experience and boost sales. in our Fulham shop.

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Photo © Sophie Tea
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A exclusive tote bag designed by
contemporary artist Sophie Tea to
celebrate our RHS Chelsea Flower
Photo © Anna Gordon / British Red Cross
The British Red Cross shop in Fulham. Show garden.
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As well as preventing second-hand clothes from going to landfill, our shops re-use and re-purpose materials where possible. We use old bandages from our first aid training as stuffing for toys and we sell bags made from plastic waste collected in Ghana.

Photo © British Red Cross One of our trashy bags, made in Ghana.

Innovative collaborations To celebrate our garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show we collaborated with contemporary artist Sophie Tea on a bespoke tote bag. While Patrick Grant, Bay Garnett and Felicity Hayward each curated collections of preloved fashion. We also launched a collection of re-released heritage British Red Cross posters, originally used between 1915 and 1945, to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. The collection showcases the trailblazing work of Doris Zinkeisen, commissioned as a war artist by the British Red Cross and the Order of St John Joint War Organisation during the Second World War.

Community events We ran community events throughout the year, bringing our Movement together to raise funds for people in crisis. Our inaugural Night Hike raised £63,000, with a 42km trek under the stars across the South Downs. Participants in the British Red Cross Brighton to Eastbourne Photo © Peter Flude / British Red Cross Night Hike in East Sussex.

537 people raised £330,000 by running marathons and half marathons to support our work, including the London Marathon, Hackney Half, London Landmarks, and the Great North Run.

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Our organisation

Optimising data, technology and our processes

Our goal: Optimise data and technology to maximise impact for the people we support

And: Simplify processes and reduce costs to optimise time and money spent supporting people in crisis

Using data and technology to maximise our impact

real-time data, so our UK crisis teams

In 2025 we started our digital transformation programme within UK operations and our marketing, fundraising and communications work. We will harness new technologies and introduce digital practices so our people can do their jobs with ease and confidence – maximising our impact for the people we support.

can be better coordinated, share vital

information effectively, and have the insight to make better and more timely decisions to support vulnerable people and communities.

We also started building the foundations

to digitise the way we capture data

We have invested in our first

across UK operations. Removing time-consuming paper form filling and duplicate data entry, we will be able to capture and share data quickly, securely and reliably.

ever incident management system for crisis response. Once implemented, the system will provide near

We also invested in the industry-leading software Salesforce for our partnerships and philanthropy teams. Salesforce will help us fund, deliver and measure our impact, and nurture our donor relationships on a single platform.

We also plan to roll this system out across our other fundraising teams, as well as across marketing and communications.

Planning activities across our health and care, and displacement and migration teams have also started with new systems and ways of working to be introduced in 2026.

Simplifying and improving our fleet processes

We reviewed our fleet of vehicles during 2025. We developed and implemented a new strategy and operating model to improve the quality of our service, align it with our strategy for cutting our carbon emissions and reduce our costs.

Chris, a British Red Cross volunteer team leader, during Photo © Joel Redman / British Red Cross Storm Claudia in Wales.

Photo © Adele Perkins / British Red Cross A British Red Cross vehicle.

Photo © Mile 91 / Ben Langdon / British Red Cross

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Finance review

Finance review

Overview

The size and direction of our overall income is often led by the prevalence of global emergencies, and 2025 was no exception. The appeals linked to the Myanmar earthquake, and to the continuing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, contributed to an increase in our total annual income. These donations more than compensated for a small decrease in unrestricted income, as some donors shifted their focus to support these appeals.

Our total unrestricted expenditure was lower than in 2024, as we benefited from the full-year impact of cost-efficiency measures taken in prior years.

At the end of 2025 we had a £3.1 million unrestricted deficit (£9.2 million deficit in 2024). This largely equates to the cost of the additional National Insurance contributions paid by the organisation following the National Insurance rate changes introduced in April 2025. This material improvement in our unrestricted deficit was in line with our plan to gradually return to a balanced position, enabled by our strong free reserves.

Our restricted funds reduced by £2.1 million (£8.3 million in 2024), reflecting the continuing spending down of high balances from strong emergency appeals income raised in previous years, including on the multi-year programme in Ukraine.

Income

The British Red Cross generates income from a number of sources. These include funding from our individual supporters (either through regular giving, one-off gifts or in the form of legacies), funding from corporate partners, institutions and philanthropists, as well as our portfolio of social enterprises. We also receive income raised specifically in response to emergency appeals. As such, our overall income and expenditure can reflect the prevalence of emergencies and the public’s desire to support us to respond to them.

Total income for the year was £293.5 million (see figure 1), £6.4 million more than in 2024. This increase was largely driven by public support for our ongoing emergency appeals. Of the £293.5 million total income, £185.2 million was unrestricted, a reduction of £4.7 million from 2024, when unrestricted income was £189.9 million (see SOFA on page 54 for further details). The increase in emergency income compensated for this fall.

Total income from donations and legacies remained in line with 2024 levels at £133.0 million, including £24.5 million in emergency income in 2025 (£16.7 million in 2024). Unrestricted income from donations and legacies decreased to £88.8 million, compared with £95.2 million in 2024 (see Note 2 on page 60). This reduction resulted from a £4.1 million fall in legacy income following exceptional results in 2024, as well as the increased prevalence of appeal funding in 2025.

Income linked to emergencies totalled £46.4 million in 2025 (see figure 2), compared to £25.7 million in 2024. We are grateful for the strong support for our ongoing appeals, which included £18.0 million for our Gaza Crisis and Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory appeals, £10.7 million for Ukraine and £7.7 million for our Myanmar earthquake appeals.

Some of our emergency income was funded through our strong partnership

with the FCDO. This partnership continued to fund the largest share of our international work, with income totalling £52.3 million (compared to £49.6 million in 2024). In addition to our emergency appeals, this income also supports the overall Red Cross Movement.

Direct funding for our UK health and care work saw a slight decline. Pressures on NHS finances and local authority budgets continue to reduce income for health and care services, though this was largely offset by a strong performance from our Red Cross Training enterprise.

Income from our retail operations decreased by £0.7 million in 2025, to £36.9 million, as we managed pressures across the wider retail market and lower levels of stock donations from our corporate partners. We have a robust plan to develop this critical income pillar over the coming years.

We generated £3.2 million in gains from the disposal of assets, particularly property, as we continued to consolidate our property estate in line with changes to our services and as a reflection of wider moves to hybrid working.

Income

Figure 1

----- Start of picture text -----
£293.5m
----- End of picture text -----

Donations and legacies 45.3% Charitable activities 39.1% Other trading activities 12.9% Investments and others 2.7%

Income breakdown

Figure 2

----- Start of picture text -----
£287.1m £293.5m
300
£25.7m
£46.4m
£5.7m
250
£7.8m
£38.7m
£37.0m
200
£100.4m
£93.8m
150
Emergencies
100
Investments and others
£116.6m Other trading activities
50 £108.5m
Charitable activities
0 Donations and legacies
2024 2025
----- End of picture text -----

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

43

Finance review

----- Start of picture text -----
Expenditure
Total expenditure for the year was £304.7 million, including £41.2 million in
support costs (2024: £310.3 million, support costs £41.9 million) as shown
in figure 3. After allocating support costs (see Note 5 on page 62 for further
details) this comprises £228.1 million spent on charitable activities and £76.6
million spent on raising funds and running our retail operations. Expenditure
linked to emergencies (shown in figure 4) totalled £42.9 million in 2025,
compared to £30.5 million in 2024.
Expenditure
Figure 3
£304.7m
Fundraising and retail excluding
support costs 21.9%
Support costs 13.5%
Charitable activities excluding
support costs 64.6%
Expenditure breakdown
Figure 4
100%
£30.5m £42.9m
80% £71.6m
£74.6m
60%
40%
£208.2m
£187.2m Emergency expenditure and
emergency fundraising costs
20%
Fundraising and retail
Charitable activities
0%
2024 2025
----- End of picture text -----

Total expenditure for the year was £304.7 million, including £41.2 million in support costs (2024: £310.3 million, support costs £41.9 million) as shown in figure 3. After allocating support costs (see Note 5 on page 62 for further details) this comprises £228.1 million spent on charitable activities and £76.6 million spent on raising funds and running our retail operations. Expenditure linked to emergencies (shown in figure 4) totalled £42.9 million in 2025, compared to £30.5 million in 2024.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes grants payable and costs incurred directly by the British Red Cross in the furtherance of our charitable objectives (including through partner organisations), and associated support costs.

Overall, 49% (£110.7 million in 2025, compared with £116.6 million in 2024) of our charitable expenditure supported our international work, contributing both to our emergency response work and long-term preparedness. We continued to respond to the Ukraine crisis, with total expenditure exceeding £184 million since the crisis began in 2022. Other international emergency expenditure supported our work both in partnership with the IFRC and directly with other National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

For our work in the UK, our charitable expenditure decreased to £117.4 million, compared with £121.4 million in 2024. Our expenditure on our UK health and care work decreased by £5.3 million compared to 2024. This was in line with the reduction in income from our contracted work with the NHS. Spending reductions also reflected the efficiencies we made, which involved finding more cost-effective ways of delivering our services and ensuring our work aligned with our strategic priorities.

Despite many pressures on costs and income, we kept our pledge to increase staff pay, particularly at the lowest levels. This included honouring our commitment to the Real Living Wage, which increased by 5% in April 2025.

We continued to work hard on cost-efficiency programmes in 2025 and on prioritising our core activities, ensuring funds are being spent as effectively as possible and in line with our strategic priorities.

The indirect costs we incur to manage restricted funds, such as related staff time and office costs, are funded mainly by our general funds. We therefore make an administration or contribution-to-costs (CTC) charge to all restricted funding streams wherever possible to cover the costs not directly charged to a project or programme. The exact amount of CTC depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the expenditure, the use of partnerships to deliver the support, the total size of the appeal, and any specific terms and conditions of the donation itself.

Grant expenditure

We provide grants to partner organisations as the main mode of delivery for our international work, and to a lesser extent in the UK. The British Red Cross works in partnership with many organisations, and during the year we provided grants to the value of £77.8 million, compared to £82.9 million in 2024 (see Note 4 on pages 60-61 for details). Grant-funded partnerships may involve our staff working in joint operations, supporting and monitoring

work, or funding wider Movement and local partners to deliver services, including immediate emergency relief.

Such grants help our partners provide sustainable benefits for communities and so further our own objectives and those of the wider Movement. We carefully consider the experience, reach and governance of potential partners, as well as the value they will add to our work in delivering our charitable objectives. Grants are managed through specific agreements with partners, which set out the conditions of the grant, including disbursement arrangements and reporting requirements to monitor spend. The conditions related to each grant agreement determine how grant expenditure is accounted for in the financial year.

Reserves policy

Our reserves policy is based on the level of free reserves held by the organisation. We aim to maintain a balance of free reserves that provides sufficient financial stability to enable us to continue our work during periods of short-term volatility in income or expenditure, as well as during times when strategic decisions need to be considered or major changes implemented in response to unforeseen events. Free reserves are not subject to specific donor restrictions and can therefore be applied flexibly to support the organisation’s activities.

The reserves policy is reviewed annually by the board, which sets a minimum level of free reserves and an acceptable range above this level. These target levels are adjusted as assessments of risk and other relevant factors evolve over time. The free reserves range approved by the board of trustees is £50 million to £70 million. In calculating the free reserves range, a value is included for legacy income where the timing of receipt is uncertain. This is considered by the board when reviewing the policy.

Reserve balances

Our five-year history of reserves

Reserves – by fund (£m)

----- Start of picture text -----
300.0
250.0
200.0
Restricted funds
150.0 Unrestricted funds held as fixed assets
100.0 Defined benefit pension scheme fund
50.0 Designated funds
Free reserves
-
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
----- End of picture text -----

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Finance review

44

Unrestricted reserves

Our free reserves at the year-end were within the target range at £65.3 million, compared with £64.5 million in 2024. Financial projections indicate that general reserves are forecast to remain within the agreed policy range for the next three years. Our free reserves include legacy income where the timing of receipt is uncertain. The value of legacies included in the December 2025 free reserves figure estimated to be receivable after 12 months is £14.2 million (2024: £14.9 million).

Our other unrestricted reserves as at 31 December 2025 were as follows:

- Fixed assets of £37.3 million (2024: £41.2 million). This largely represents the net book value of fixed assets. The major asset category on our balance sheet relates to property. To reflect changes to our ways of working and to manage costs, we have been steadily reducing our estate in recent years. This will continue into 2026-27. More details can be found in notes 9 and 10, pages 65 and 66.

• Pension funds of £1.5 million (2024: £1.5 million). This relates to the surplus position on our defined benefit pension scheme for our UK office scheme. This scheme is now closed to new members and has been subject to a buyout. More details can be found in note 19, pages 69 to 70.

Restricted reserves

Our restricted reserves are all linked to a specific purpose. The largest balances often relate to money raised in response to a major international emergency. The total can vary based on both the number and scale of appeals in a particular year, and the pace at which our response teams estimate that aid should be released to give people and communities the best chance of a sustainable recovery from a crisis.

Restricted reserves were significantly boosted in 2022 due to the public’s response to the conflict in Ukraine. We remain actively engaged in a multiyear programme to help the Ukrainian Red Cross Society continue to provide support. We continue to review and develop our response as the situation evolves. Smaller balances relate to ongoing activity in response to other major emergencies, including the earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye, and the crises in Afghanistan and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Note 7 (page 64) provides details of the movement in restricted funds in 2025.

Investments

Our Investment Policy ensures we manage our investments in line with our risk framework, Ethical Policy, Environmental Sustainability Policy and the UK Stewardship Code. The British Red Cross does not directly or indirectly invest in companies with a noticeable interest in the trading or manufacture of arms, tobacco products or extractive fossil fuels.

Our investments are divided into long-, medium-, and short-term investment pools. We prepare regular cashflow forecasts to help guide us when deciding the level of funds we need to hold in each of our investment categories. This ensures that funds are readily available to meet our operational requirements and liabilities as they fall due. It also allows us to maximise the potential returns available within our risk criteria.

Current asset investments and cash at bank and in hand

Our objective is to maximise interest on short-term funds within acceptable risk parameters by placing funds overnight in money market funds or in short-term deposits. In 2025, investment income of £3.0 million was generated in this way, compared to £3.8 million in 2024.

Fixed asset investments

Funds not required for operational restricted purposes are available for medium- and long-term investments. An investment working group of the finance and audit committee regularly reviews our investment portfolio and policy. Our overall investment objective is to generate a positive return, while maintaining the capital value of investments in real terms over the long-term.

The long- and medium-term investments in our fixed and current asset investment portfolios are held in a number of funds, including equities, bonds and fixed income, against an agreed strategic allocation to meet the investment objectives. The aim for long-term funds is to preserve the value of the funds in real terms over the longer term. The aim for medium-term funds is to preserve the value of the funds in nominal terms.

Medium-term portfolio

Long-term portfolio

----- Start of picture text -----
100% 100%
80% 32% 35% 80% 34% 34%
60% 60%
34%
35%
40% 40%
66% 67%
18%
15%
20% 20%
16% 15%
0% 0%
31 Dec 2025 Strategic benchmark 31 Dec 2025 Strategic benchmark
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Fidelity Sustainable Climate Bond Fund
----- End of picture text -----

Royal London Short Term Fixed Income Enhanced Fund

----- Start of picture text -----
Aegon Ethical Corporate Bond Fund
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Royal London Short Term Fixed Income Fund
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Northern Trust World Custom ESG Equity Index Fund
Brown Advisory Global Leaders Sustainable Fund
----- End of picture text -----

The financial markets in 2025 provided positive returns due to the easing of inflation and interest rates globally by central banks as well as global political changes. Our investments returned a net unrealised investment gain in the year of £6.0 million (6.9%), compared to an unrealised gain in 2024 of £5.7 million (7.2%). The medium- and long-term investments successfully delivered returns in line with agreed fund sector benchmarks.

	2025 % Return	Benchmark
Long-term investments	8.0%	8.9%
Medium-term investments	5.1%	4.6%
Total investment	6.9%	7.4%

The British Red Cross along with its advisors believe the current investments portfolio continues to meet the agreed investment objectives.

Going concern

We use our strategy (Strategy 2030), our risk management framework, and robust financial monitoring to establish plans to enable an effective approach to mitigate any significant detrimental impacts from any risks, such as the impact of high inflation, a reduction in our income growth or increasing demand for our services. The actions we have taken to mitigate risks have enabled us to be within the target reserve range. In addition, investments are held in sufficiently liquid assets to ensure easy access to resources if needed.

Financial forecasts have been prepared for the next three years, which project that our unrestricted reserves will remain within the approved policy range of £50 million to £70 million. Consequently, the British Red Cross has sufficient reserves, cash and other resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future. The expectation is that by the end of 2028 our net income and expenditure will be in a balanced position on unrestricted funds. We apply sensitivity analysis and stress testing of scenarios to these forecasts to determine the potential impact of different financial and operational risks. These risks could include changes to employer National Insurance contributions, developments in global conflicts, geopolitical uncertainty, and cuts to international aid.

Based on this analysis, the board of trustees believes the British Red Cross is well placed to manage its financial and operational risks satisfactorily and have a reasonable expectation that the British Red Cross will have adequate resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future and meet its liabilities as they fall due until at least June 2027. It therefore considers it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Charities Act statement

45

Charities Act statement

Fundraising standards

Our ability to be there for those in crisis relies on the trust and generosity of the people and organisations who put their kindness into action by supporting our work. We are therefore committed to safeguarding that trust by applying the highest standards of integrity to all our fundraising activity.

We are members of the Fundraising Regulator and take steps to ensure all of our people, including those fundraising on our behalf, understand how to uphold both the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise when representing the British Red Cross.

The policies and procedures we have in place to guide our fundraising draw on the key principles of the code, making sure our approach is always legal, honest, open and respectful. Our organisation’s values and fundamental principles are also at the heart of the standards we set for our fundraising activities.

We regularly benchmark our fundraising standards with industry best practice, through active engagement with various industry bodies and forums, such as the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF), Ofcom and the Lotteries Council.

Treating people fairly

We want supporters to engage with us in ways that work for them. We provide simple, straightforward methods for people to control what types of marketing and fundraising messages they receive. We only email, call or send marketing text messages to supporters about our work and ways they can help if we have their explicit consent to do so. We take the privacy and data security of our supporters extremely seriously and take steps to ensure our fundraising activities are always aligned with UK data protection law.

As part of our undertaking with the Information Commissioner, we also check in with our supporters every two years to make sure they are still happy to receive fundraising calls from us.

We do not tolerate, in any of our fundraising, the use of language or behaviour that intentionally misleads or seeks to pressure people into giving. We also take great care to ensure our fundraising does not cause unreasonable distress or intrusion into someone’s privacy.

We are committed to protecting people who may be in vulnerable circumstances, and have specific procedures in place to make sure we

treat people fairly where this may be the case. We also provide training and guidance to fundraising staff and professional fundraisers working on our behalf to help them recognise and respond to signs that someone may not be able to make an informed decision about supporting us, or that a particular approach may not be suitable for their circumstances.

Our approach to safeguarding people who may be vulnerable has been developed in consultation with British Red Cross safeguarding staff. It is in line with the requirements of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, as well as with the CIoF’s Treating Donors Fairly Guidance, and the Direct Marketing Association’s Guidelines for Dealing with Vulnerable Consumers.

Our fundraising partnerships

It is vital we set ourselves ambitious fundraising goals so that people facing crisis now, and in the future, will be able to count on the help of the Red Cross. To help us achieve these goals, we rely not only on our committed staff and volunteers, but also on our trusted and valued partners.

These include the professional face-to-face and telephone fundraising agencies we work with, as well as the businesses and brands we partner with to fund our lifesaving humanitarian work. These partnerships also offer important expertise and allow us to extend our reach to new audiences.

All our partnerships undergo careful due diligence prior to us agreeing any form of relationship to ensure they are aligned with our Ethical Policy and any relevant regulatory requirements. All professional fundraisers and corporate partners working on our behalf are required to adhere to our standards, as well as all relevant regulation and law. We enshrine this commitment in our contractual agreements with them.

Training our fundraisers

We provide training and support for internal fundraising staff and professional fundraising partners to help them translate our high standards into excellent fundraising practice. All our internal fundraisers must complete our mandatory Code of Fundraising Practice training, and our

professional fundraising partners must attend bespoke British Red Cross training sessions before they join any of our fundraising campaigns.

Monitoring fundraising activities

Our Quality Assurance Framework outlines the procedures and requirements we have in place to ensure our fundraising activities adhere to our high standards. A key pillar of this framework outlines the proportional, risk-based and responsive monitoring we use across our fundraising activity.

Fundraising carried out through professional fundraising agencies is subject to a rigorous programme of audit, monitoring and reporting. This includes mystery shopping and shadowing fundraisers working on our behalf, observing fundraiser training and listening to a representative percentage of fundraising telephone calls. We also attempt to contact every new supporter who has signed up with one of our face-to-face fundraisers to check that the conversation met our high standards.

Complaints

We provide clear routes for people to contact us with concerns, feedback and complaints on our website, and the contact details for our Supporter Care team are included in our mailings and other public-facing materials.

We welcome all feedback. While we strive to limit the number of complaints we receive, we value the opportunity to learn and improve. The close monitoring of complaints is a key part of how we review our fundraising performance at all levels.

We will formally log a complaint where there has been a potential or actual breach of the fundraising code, a lapse in our high standards, or a concern raised where an investigation has been instigated. We also record expressions of dissatisfaction with our decision to carry out a particular form of fundraising. In 2025, we received 215 complaints and expressions of dissatisfaction. This represents a decrease on the previous year and is proportionate to the volume and variety of approaches we made to the public and existing supporters.

We did not have any complaints that were escalated to the Fundraising Regulator for further investigation.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Safeguarding

46

Safeguarding

Safeguarding at the British Red Cross is how we prevent and respond to concerns of abuse, exploitation and harm to children, adults and communities who come into contact with us or our partners. It includes our responsibility to safeguard staff and volunteers.

A year of progress

Last year, we continued to develop a strong safeguarding culture and systems, with accompanying resources and tools to support our staff and volunteers to get safeguarding right. We continued to learn from complex cases and our sector partners, both in the Movement and outside.

Global and local initiatives

We continued to work with the IFRC, ICRC and partner National Societies across the world on global, national and local initiatives to promote safeguarding. This included the prevention of, and response to, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH). During the year, the Head of Safeguarding gave a presentation on safeguarding at the global Integrity Conference hosted by the Kenyan Red Cross Society.

Incidents in 2025

In 2025, we supported with, and advised on, over 2,100 safeguarding concerns and queries across our UK and international work, as well as more than 1,400 emails and 179 out-of-hours calls. In total, 1,571 of these concerns met our criteria to be reported and recorded on our formal incident-management system, Datix.

The majority of these incidents were reported by British Red Cross staff, volunteers and partners during their work to prevent abuse and harm within the community.

Of the 1,571 cases reported, we involved external bodies where appropriate, such as adult or children’s social care. These included 20 that were identified as potentially serious incidents. One of them met our serious incident criteria (as defined by the Charity Commission).

Our work to strengthen our safeguarding

We continued using ambitious multi-annual action plans to ensure we regularly improve the organisational safeguarding culture. We prioritised our activities on the basis of what can have the greatest impact in preventing safeguarding incidents and keeping people safe. We slightly modified our Safeguarding Framework to ensure it meets organisational needs.

Our board of trustees and executive leadership team received regular updates and training.

Outreach and training

Our safeguarding specialists had more than 65 engagements with teams across the organisation during 2025, to support their understanding of safeguarding.

We continued our work to ensure our safeguarding policy, procedure and guidance documents are up to date with evolving legislation, including ensuring our people policies and procedures align with safeguarding requirements. We supported an update to our Code of Conduct and Dignity at Work policies, while also completing procedures around consent and money handling.

Our core essential safeguarding and domestic abuse training for our UK Operations staff and volunteers was updated, streamlined and relaunched. We developed an awareness-raising session for retail volunteers. We delivered extensive in-person courses to two international regional teams. Three knowledge articles were published to allow staff to ‘self-serve’ on less high-risk issues.

We produced case studies and delivered several safeguarding spotlight sessions to targeted directorates to learn from serious incidents. We continued to develop and expand our safeguarding representatives’ networks across the organisation.

Initiatives and collaborations

We developed a Safer Recruitment Action Plan and co-coordinated work to advance our system and policy improvements.

We met with the FCDO during its Central Assurance Assessment of the British Red Cross to evaluate the progress of our organisation’s safeguarding processes. We continued to provide bi-annual data to the Core Humanitarian Standards SEAH Harmonised Reporting Scheme to help understand the scale of safeguarding issues across the sector. We participated in the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme as part of our safer recruitment efforts. We continued to coordinate with international colleagues to consider safeguarding risks and mitigations for Disasters Emergency Committee appeals.

Supporting the wider Movement

We continued to support the wider Movement to increase its safeguarding capacity through working groups, mentoring, investigations and case management discussions. We met with the senior leadership of two National Societies during 2025 to support their safeguarding structures and approaches. We also supported five partnership assessments using the IFRC safeguarding framework. We provided templates and guidance so partner National Societies can document their referral pathways. And we have started to map the various contexts in which we work so that our responses to safeguarding concerns can be more efficient, informed and culturally relevant.

Looking ahead

We have updated our Action Plan for 2026 to ensure the continuous development and integration of safeguarding throughout the British Red Cross. We build and use international and domestic connections to ensure we operate using best practice principles and approaches.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Risks

rise in misinformation, societal polarisation, cuts to international aid, and international conflicts.

Risk management framework

The British Red Cross is exposed to a range of risks through both the work we do to deliver our mission and the nature of our operational environment, particularly in the context of our work overseas. We have a risk management framework in place to ensure risks are identified, assessed, managed and actively monitored.

They have also reviewed the risk framework and risk appetite of the organisation to ensure its continued appropriateness, and regularly reviewed the corporate risk register during 2025.

Committees of the board, along with other internal steering groups, provide regular in-year oversight of specific risks. In particular, the board’s risk and assurance committee conduct deep dives to scrutinise the management of key risk areas.

This is supported by a risk register in each of our directorates and an overarching corporate risk register, which sets out our top risks and is reviewed regularly by the executive leadership team. Risk management also forms part of our strategic and business planning processes.

The ‘going concern’ section of the finance review describes how key risks are incorporated in the going concern assessment undertaken by the trustees.

In 2025, the trustees considered risks to our strategic objectives, particularly in relation to the

The most significant risks and uncertainties were:

----- Start of picture text -----
Principal risk Key risk mitigation activity
Cyber-security - Resilience and control testing and monitoring.
-
Third-party cyber-risk management.
-
Training and awareness.
-
Pro-active security operations and incident management.
- Compliance with cyber-security standards
Safeguarding and patient safety - Code of Conduct, policy and procedures framework establishing standards and best
practice – assessed via Quality Framework inspections.
-
Pre-engagement checks on staff and volunteers.
-
Line management, supervision and monitoring.
-
Service/role-specific training for staff and volunteers. `
-
Communication, training and awareness campaigns.
-
Subject-matter experts and whistleblowing hotline.
-
Reporting procedures, incident management and investigation to promote learning.
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Risks 47
Principal risk Key risk mitigation activity
Capability and capacity - People programmes (end-to-end talent, career, wellbeing, inclusion and diversity,
engagement).
-
Strategic workforce planning linked to updated recruitment ways of working.
-
Pay and benefits review.
-
Volunteer and youth strategy development.
Working with international partners - Partner due diligence assessments and improvement plans.
-
International quality methodology and workflow processes for international projects and
programmes provides structure and assurance that they are safe and inclusive.
-
In-country risk assessments and monitoring.
-
Grant agreement document template clarifies compliance requirements.
Health, safety and security (HSS) - H&S policy annual review and HSS report to the board.
-
HSS management procedures – UK and international.
-
Mandatory health and safety training.
-
Security monitoring.
-
Incident-reporting system, including a serious incident management process (domestic
and overseas).
-
Annual Planned Preventative Maintenance programme.
-
Property compliance assessments, e.g. fire, asbestos.
-
Enhanced security, safety and wellbeing measures in response to increased anti-migrant
sentiment.
Mis- / Dis- / Mal-information - Media monitoring and horizon scanning.
-
Proactive preparation of messaging.
-
Internal governance policies e.g. social media policy.
-
Close working with the IFRC, ICRC and other partners.
-
Response to emergencies and conflicts Governance structure provides strategic and tactical planning and risk oversight.
-
Segregated financial control for restricted funds with regular reconciliation and audit.
-
Localised financial policies and procedures.
-
Coordinated international Movement response through our partners.
-
Emergency Preparedness and Response framework operationalised through policies,
procedures, plans and exercises.
-
Organisational preparedness annual cycle to identify and address any capability and
risk gaps.
Financial sustainability - Reserves policy and regular monitoring of reserves position against policy.
-
Three-year forecast to assess the annual surplus/deficit and reserves position.
-
Investment policy and regular monitoring of cash position and investment approach.
- Diverse income portfolio.
----- End of picture text -----

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Governance information

48

Governance information

Strong governance is essential to delivering our mission and maintaining public trust. This section explains how the British Red Cross is governed, the role of our board and committees, and the measures we take to ensure accountability, transparency and continuous improvement.

Governance framework

The British Red Cross was founded in 1870 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1908. It is a registered charity in England and Wales, Scotland, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. A supplemental Royal Charter took effect on 1 January 1998, which was revised by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 17 July 2003. We operate under this revised charter, our standing orders and internal regulations. Our charitable objectives are to assist victims of armed conflict and to improve health, prevent disease, and alleviate human suffering in the UK and worldwide.

Our board of trustees

The British Red Cross is led by a board of trustees who carry ultimate legal responsibility for our charity and set our overall strategic direction. Its role is to make sure we stay focused on our vision, use our resources wisely and uphold our fundamental principles and values. Trustees must act responsibly, reasonably and honestly. They safeguard the charity’s assets, ensuring they are only used to further our charitable purposes and that our beneficiaries, resources and reputation are not exposed to unnecessary risk.

Our board can have up to seven elected trustees (drawn from our active volunteer base), and up to six appointed trustees (recruited through an open process). Trustees serve as unpaid volunteers for up to two four-year terms, with reasonable expenses reimbursed in line with our travel and expenses policy. The board meets five times a year.

The board is committed to diversity and fresh perspectives. In 2025, we agreed to dedicate a seat to a young trustee, reflecting our belief that intergenerational diversity strengthens decision making and helps us stay responsive to the communities we serve. We support ongoing trustee development through regular appraisals and a mix of service visits, information sessions and training.

Trustee attendance at scheduled board meetings in 2025 was 87.8%, demonstrating strong engagement.

February: 85% April: 92% June: 92% September: 85% December: 85%

Board committees

The board retains ultimate responsibility for the charity’s governance and strategic direction, but delegates specific responsibilities and, in some cases, decision-making authority to specialist committees. These committees enable focused oversight and provide assurance that key strategic and governance matters receive detailed scrutiny and informed consideration. Our committees include the:

• finance and audit committee – monitors financial management and oversees internal and external audit arrangements.

• people committee – supports oversight of our people strategy for staff and volunteers, and promotes a culture aligned with our values and fundamental principles.

• risk and assurance committee – ensures operational and compliance risks are identified, assessed, managed and monitored effectively.

In the interests of transparency, we publish the full list of committees and their terms of reference on our website.

Charity Governance Code

The board remains committed to achieving sector-leading standards of governance and applies the principles of the Charity Governance Code. In 2023, we commissioned an independent external review of our governance arrangements, which confirmed that our structures and processes are robust and reflect best practice in many areas. Building on that review, we have strengthened governance throughout 2025 by embedding our streamlined committee structure and investing in board development through targeted training and engagement. We will continue to build on these improvements, maintaining our review of the updated code and incorporating any further required actions into our action plans and annual progress assessments.

Operation and management

The board works closely with the executive leadership team, which manages the day-to-day running of the organisation. The executive team meets twice a month, and its members attend board meetings by invitation to support effective decision-making and collaboration.

The British Red Cross operates in nine British Overseas Territories.

• Subsidiaries (locally incorporated and accounted for in the group accounts under SORP): Bermuda Red Cross, Cayman Islands Red Cross, British Virgin Islands Red Cross, Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross, and the Bermuda Red Cross Charitable Trust.

- Branches (accounted for as branches under SORP): Anguilla Red Cross, Falklands Islands Red Cross, Gibraltar Red Cross, Montserrat Red Cross and St Helena Red Cross.

Also included in the group accounts is Britcross Limited, our wholly owned trading subsidiary, which donates its trading profits to the British Red Cross.

Group governance

The board retains oversight of all subsidiaries and branches through regular reporting and assurance processes, ensuring that governance standards and compliance obligations are consistently applied across the group.

International affiliations

The British Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement – the world’s largest humanitarian network, comprising:

• the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

• the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

• (IFRC)

• 191 National Societies worldwide, including the British Red Cross.

• The Movement is united by seven fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. These principles guide our work and ensure consistency across the Movement. Each National Society helps vulnerable people within its borders and collaborates globally to support those in crisis.

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The British Red Cross is also a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly and effectively at times of crisis overseas.

Modern slavery in supply chains

As a humanitarian organisation, we aim to prevent and alleviate human suffering, protect life and health, and uphold respect and dignity for all people. We are equally committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. Our ambition is to identify, minimise and eliminate risks wherever possible. In line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement, setting out the steps we take to prevent modern slavery across our operations and supply chains. The statement is available here.

Pay gap reporting

We report our gender pay gap annually in line with UK regulations. The 2025 figures in this report are based on our 5 April 2024 snapshot and were published in 2025. Ethnicity pay gap reporting is voluntary; we follow the same snapshot approach for consistency. There is a standard one-year lag between the snapshot date and publication.

Gender pay reporting

We remain committed to creating an environment where women can thrive and progress in their careers. Our April 2025 figures show that our gender pay gap is the lowest since reporting began in 2017/18.

In April 2025, the mean pay gap was 4.65% – down 1.85% from the previous year and significantly reduced from 11.5% in 2021.

Our median pay gap was -0.65% – meaning median female pay was slightly higher (by 10p) than male pay, compared to a 4.3% gap in 2021.

This progress reflects the impact of initiatives designed to make career development accessible and recruitment equitable. We also recognise that inclusion goes beyond gender – it’s about creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can be their authentic selves. That’s why we’ve started expanding our reporting to include other characteristics, such as ethnicity.

Ethnicity pay reporting

In April 2025, our overall mean ethnicity pay gap was 0.63%, with some colleagues from minoritised ethnic groups earning more than white colleagues due to their seniority.

Our median pay gap was -10.06%, indicating that median pay for minoritised ethnic groups is higher than for white colleagues.

We continue to focus on fair, inclusive and anti-racist recruitment and career development practices to ensure equity across our organisation.

Pay and benefits

Remuneration policy

The British Red Cross employs just over 4,000 staff in the UK and overseas. The aim of our remuneration policy, which applies to all employees, is to offer remuneration that is fair and appropriate for the roles people perform and the responsibilities they undertake. We employ people whose skills and competences are in demand in a variety of sectors, including the health service, local government and other charities. They require the same levels of professional and occupational qualifications and experience as staff working in these sectors. We pay our staff relative to external benchmarks for the role they fulfil, with our pay principles being focused on equity and transparency.

The British Red Cross generally expects to pay at a level comparable to that in the not-for-profit and charity sectors, using external benchmarks to ensure this. In senior positions, this can result in remuneration levels below those for similar-sized organisations in the private sector and some areas of the public sector. Information on the grading structure, maximum and minimum remuneration levels for each grade, and all benefits (including pension) are available to all employees.

The levels of salary available, together with other benefits such as annual leave and pensions, are generally reviewed annually. Inputs to the review include: the financial performance of the British Red Cross; information on staff turnover and the pay and benefits in organisations employing comparable workers; organisation budgets and annual plans; and our

ambition to be a sustainable and high-performing organisation. Our overall approach to remuneration is based on three key principles: fairness, competitiveness and sustainability.

Annual salary review

In 2025, the British Red Cross implemented an annual pay award. This supports our aim to be an employer that is fair, offers competitive salaries and is financially sustainable. Since 2022, we have taken a more targeted approach, ensuring market competitiveness and focusing on our lowestpaid employees. This continued in our 2025 pay award, where we made pay increases ranging between 2-4% for all employees. We also aligned all our salaries to the most recent external pay benchmark.

We are proud to have reached our ambition of paying the Real Living Wage, rather than just paying the National Living Wage, which we implemented in 2023. The Real Living Wage is calculated based on the salary people need to earn to meet everyday costs. Colleagues on the Real Living Wage received an increase of more than 4% last year.

Pensions

The British Red Cross operates a defined contribution pension scheme, to which all eligible employees are auto-enrolled. Anyone who does not qualify automatically in this way can opt to join the pension scheme at any time. The British Red Cross matches an employee’s contributions to their personal pension fund, to a maximum of 6% of basic salary. The minimum level of employee contribution is 4%.

Staff had previously been entitled to join the British Red Cross Pension Fund (“UK Office scheme”), Scottish Branch British Red Cross Society Retirement Benefits Scheme (“Scottish scheme”) or the TPT Growth Plan. These three schemes are all closed to new entrants. Further details on these closed pension schemes can be found in note 19, pages 69–70.

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The following details relate to the executive leadership team as at 31 December 2025:

		Annual pay	Annual pay	Pension
Job title	Key areas of responsibility	2025	2024	entitlement2
Chief executive	Leading the organisation, which has an annual income of over	£189,108	£183,600	GPP
	£280 million, employs over 4,000 staff and 9,877 volunteers,
	and delivers services and programmes in the UK and globally.
Chief fnance	Responsible for fnancial leadership of the organisation and	£162,843	£158,100	GPP
offcer	the performance of the social enterprises.
Chief operating	Responsible for the strategy and management of internal	£159,832	£155,177	n/a
offcer	professional and operational/shared services, technology,
	data, property and facilities, and our staff and volunteers.
Executive director, UK	Responsible for developing and delivering cause-aligned	£149,008	£144,668	GPP
	products and services to support those at greatest risk in
	the UK.
Executive director of	Responsible for supporter marketing, mass engagement,	£144,9831	£23,460	GPP
marketing, fundraising	high-value fundraising, marketing, brand management, and
and communications	external messaging and communications.
Interim executive director	Responsible for supporter marketing, mass engagement,	£10,8331	£ -	GPP
of marketing, fundraising	high-value fundraising, marketing, brand management, and
and communications	external messaging and communications.
Executive director,	Responsible for supporting the delivery of our international	£134,802	£130,876	GPP
international	programmes and partnerships, humanitarian cash assistance,
	international humanitarian law and policy.

• 1 The executive director of marketing, fundraising and communications role commenced 11 November 2024 and the director left the organisation on 24 December 2025. An interim executive director of marketing, fundraising and communications was appointed with effect from 1 December 2025.

• 2 GPP – Group Personal Pension Plan. The British Red Cross matches an employee’s contributions to their personal pension fund, to a maximum of 6% of basic salary. This can be achieved through salary sacrifice and the British Red Cross pays half of the employer’s National Insurance contribution saved as a result to the individual’s fund. The chief operating officer has opted out of this pension scheme.

Public benefit

The board has considered the legislative and regulatory requirements for demonstrating how our charitable objectives, as set out in our Royal Charter, deliver public benefit. Each year, we review our aims, objectives and activities to ensure they remain focused on those objectives. This report explains how our work during 2025 has benefited the public, directly and indirectly.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards). The law applicable to charities in England, Wales and Scotland requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and group and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity and group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply

• them consistently

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP

• make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent

• state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the provisions of the Royal Charter. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

On behalf of the trustees, Sir John Holmes chair of the board of trustees.

28 April 2026

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Auditor’s report

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees of the British Red Cross Society

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the British Red Cross Society (‘the charity’) and its subsidiaries (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the consolidated and company balance sheets, the consolidated cashflow statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (amended).

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent

of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or

• sufficient and proper accounting records have not been kept by the parent charity or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group and the parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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Auditor’s report

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements We have been appointed as auditor under section 151 of the Charities Act 2011, and section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charity and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material

amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 together with the Charities SORP (FRS102) 2019. We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charity’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charity and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were Charity Commission regulations, anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation, taxation legislation and employment legislation. We also considered compliance with local legislation for the group’s overseas operating segments.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial

statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of grant, contract and legacy income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit, legal counsel and the Finance and Audit Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, sample testing of income received in the year and post year end and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further

removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of nondetection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London

8 May 2026

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity under regulation 10(2) of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations by virtue of its eligibility under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

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Accounts

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025

British Red Cross volunteers Carol and Andy being briefed before conducting welfare checks during a gas outage in Muswell Hill, London.

Photo © Anna Gordon / British Red Cross

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Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025

Consolidated statement of financial activities For the year ended 31 December 2025

Consolidated statement of fnancial activities For the year ended 31 December 2025
				2025			2024
		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	Notes	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
INCOME from:
Donations and legacies	2	88.8	44.2	133.0	95.2	38.1	133.3
Charitable activities
Disasters and emergencies		20.7	2.3	23.0	18.2	0.9	19.1
Displacement and migration		1.0	0.6	1.6	0.4	1.9	2.3
Health and care		30.8	2.5	33.3	32.5	2.5	35.0
Our UK work		52.5	5.4	57.9	51.1	5.3	56.4
Our work across the world		0.1	56.6	56.7	0.3	52.1	52.4
Total income from charitable activities	3	52.6	62.0	114.6	51.4	57.4	108.8
Other trading activities
Retail		36.9	-	36.9	37.6	-	37.6
Other fundraisingactivities		0.9	0.1	1.0	1.6	-	1.6
Rent		0.1	-	0.1	0.1	-	0.1
Total income from other trading activities		37.9	0.1	38.0	39.3	-	39.3
Investments		2.2	1.6	3.8	2.9	1.8	4.7
Other
Miscellaneous income		0.5	0.4	0.9	0.8	0.4	1.2
Net(losses)/gains on disposal of tangible fxed assets		3.2	-	3.2	0.3	(0.5)	(0.2)
Total income		185.2	108.3	293.5	189.9	97.2	287.1
EXPENDITURE on:
Raising funds
Fundraising		32.9	3.6	36.5	31.7	1.0	32.7
Retail		40.1	-	40.1	39.5	0.1	39.6
Total expenditure on raising funds		73.0	3.6	76.6	71.2	1.1	72.3
Charitable activities
Disasters and emergencies		32.3	3.8	36.1	31.3	2.7	34.0
Displacement and migration		21.2	6.8	28.0	20.9	7.9	28.8
Health and care		46.8	6.5	53.3	53.4	5.2	58.6
Our UK work		100.3	17.1	117.4	105.6	15.8	121.4
Our work across the world		15.2	95.5	110.7	22.1	94.5	116.6
Total expenditure on charitable activities		115.5	112.6	228.1	127.7	110.3	238.0
Total expenditure	4	188.5	116.2	304.7	198.9	111.4	310.3
Netgains/(losses)on investments	11	-	6.0	6.0	-	5.7	5.7
Net income/(expenditure)		(3.3)	(1.9)	(5.2)	(9.0)	(8.5)	(17.5)
Transfers between funds	7,8	0.2	(0.2)	-	(0.2)	0.2	-
Other recognisedgains/(losses):
Actuarial(losses)/gains on defned beneftpension schemes	19	-	-	-	-	-	-
Net movement in funds		(3.1)	(2.1)	(5.2)	(9.2)	(8.3)	(17.5)
Total funds at 1 January		107.2	146.7	253.9	116.4	155.0	271.4
Total funds at 31 December	7,8	104.1	144.6	248.7	107.2	146.7	253.9

Consolidated and charity balance sheets For the year ended 31 December 2025

	Notes 2025 Group £m 2024 Group £m 2025 Charity £m 2024 Charity £m
NET ASSETS:
Fixed assets
Intangible fxed assets	9 8.1 6.3 8.1 6.3
Tangible fxed assets	10 31.1 37.0 29.1 34.9
Fixed asset investments	11 93.2 87.3 93.2 87.3
Investmentproperties	12 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
	133.2 131.4 131.2 129.3
Current assets
Stocks	13 3.6 4.2 3.3 3.8
Debtors	14 65.3 68.4 67.3 71.9
Investments	11 45.0 35.0 45.0 35.0
Cash at bank and in hand	15 23.3 40.2 20.6 36.7
	137.2 147.8 136.2 147.4
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts fallingdue within oneyear	16 (20.3) (25.0) (19.5) (24.8)
Net current assets	116.9 122.8 116.7 122.6
Total assets less current liabilities	250.1 254.2 247.9 251.9
Provision for liabilities and charges	17 (2.9) (1.8) (2.9) (1.8)
Net assets beforepension scheme surplus	247.2 252.4 245.0 250.1
Defned beneftpension scheme surplus	19 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Net assets	248.7 253.9 246.5 251.6
FUNDS:
Restricted funds	7 144.6 146.7 141.6 143.6
Unrestricted funds held as fxed assets	8 37.3 41.2 37.3 41.2
Defned beneftpension scheme fund	8 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Free reserves	8 65.3 64.5 66.1 65.3
Unrestricted funds	104.1 107.2 104.9 108.0
Total funds	248.7 253.9 246.5 251.6

The notes on pages 60 to 72 form part of these financial statements.

Approved by the board of trustees on 28 April 2026 and signed on its behalf by

Sir John Holmes Chair, board of trustees 28 April 2026

Mark Beddy Chair, finance and audit committee 28 April 2026

All the activities relate to continuing operations. For the parent charity, total income for the year is £290.5m (2024: £283.6m), total expenditure is £301.6m (2024: £306.7m) and net movement in funds is a deficit of £5.1m (2024: £17.4m).

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Consolidated cash flow statement For the year ended 31 December 2025

Consolidated cash fow statement For the year ended 31 December 2025
		2025	2024
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS	Notes	£m	£m
Cash fows from operating activities:
Net cashprovided byoperatingactivities		(12.0)	(16.0)
Cash fows from investing activities:
Purchase of current asset investments	11	(30.0)	(35.0)
Proceeds from sale of fxed asset investments	11	-	-
Proceeds from sale of current asset investments	11	20.0	30.0
Purchase of fxed asset investments	11	-	-
Proceeds from sale of tangible fxed assets		8.1	2.5
Purchase of tangible fxed assets	10	(2.9)	(1.7)
Purchase of intangible assets	9	(3.9)	(2.7)
Investment income		3.8	4.7
Net cashprovided by investing activities		(4.9)	(2.2)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period		(16.9)	(18.2)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period		40.2	58.4
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period		23.3	40.2
		2025	2024
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents		£m	£m
Cash at bank and in hand	15	7.0	7.0
Moneymarketfunds	15	16.3	18.2
Bank short-term deposits	15	-	15.0
Total		23.3	40.2
		2025	2024
Reconciliation of net expenditure to net cash fow from operating activities		£m	£m
Net(expenditure) for the reporting period(asper the statement of fnancial activities)		(5.2)	(17.5)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges	10	4.0	4.3
Amortisation charges	9	2.0	1.5
Investment income		(3.8)	(4.7)
Net(gains)/losses on investments		(6.0)	(5.7)
Exchanged rate adjustment	11	0.1	-
Net losses/(gains)on disposal of tangible fxed assets		(3.2)	0.2
(Increase)/decrease in stocks		0.6	(0.6)
(Increase)/decrease in debtors		3.1	(1.0)
Increase/(decrease)in creditors: amounts fallingdue within oneyear		(4.7)	7.5
Increase/(decrease)inprovision for liabilities and charges		1.1	-
Net charges for defned beneftpension scheme		-	-
Net cashprovided by operating activities		(12.0)	(16.0)

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Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

1. Accounting policies

(a) Scope and basis of the financial statements

The British Red Cross constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, as modified by the revaluation of investments at market value, and are in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (‘the SORP’), FRS 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (‘FRS 102’), the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The going concern assessment undertaken by the board of trustees involves consideration of financial and cashflow projections, which has concluded that the British Red Cross has sufficient resources to continue in operation for at least a year from the date of signing this Trustees’ Report and Accounts and for the foreseeable future. Financial forecasts for the next three years project that the British Red Cross has sufficient cash and other resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future. These forecasts are prepared applying sensitivity analysis and by stress testing for scenarios to determine the potential impact of different financial and operational risks. Robust monitoring and mitigation processes are established to enable a rapid reaction to any material detrimental impacts from those risks. The society’s investments are held in sufficiently liquid assets to ensure easy access to resources if needed. For these reasons, the board of trustees continues to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the accounts.

The consolidated financial statements have been prepared to give a true and fair view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the SORP rather than Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (revised 2005) which has been withdrawn.

The preparation of the financial statements in accordance with FRS 102 requires the trustees to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the application of policies and reported amounts in the financial statements. The areas involving a higher degree of judgement, or areas where assumptions or estimates were significant to the financial statements are described at (q) below.

The financial statements incorporate the results of all material activities overseas where the British Red Cross has operational responsibility. The results and net assets of British Red Cross operations in five British overseas branches have been included in the financial statements.

The results and balance sheets of the British Red Cross’ subsidiary undertakings, Britcross Limited, the Bermuda Red Cross Charitable Trust, Bermuda Red Cross, Cayman Islands Red Cross, the Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross and the British Virgin Islands Red Cross, have been consolidated on a line-by-line basis. All subsidiary undertakings prepare accounts to 31 December.

A separate statement of financial activities has not been presented for the charity alone, as this is not considered to be materially different from the consolidated statement of financial activities (SOFA).

For the parent charity, total income and expenditure for the year and net movement in funds are shown under the SOFA on page 54.

(b) Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general charitable objectives. A pension reserve is included within unrestricted funds to reflect the pension surplus. Designated funds are a portion of the unrestricted funds that have been set aside for a particular purpose by the trustees.

Restricted funds are donated for either a particular geographical area or purpose, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose. Such donations are principally for international purposes. These include grants and contracts from institutions for the provision of specific activities or services. Restricted funds are held as investments, pooled together with general reserve investments, until expenditure is incurred.

(c) Income

Income is recognised in the period in which entitlement is established, when economic benefit is probable, and the value can be measured reliably. Income received in advance of providing goods and services in future periods is deferred and recognised as a creditor within the balance sheet.

Recognition of legacy income depends on the type of legacy.

Residuary legacy income is recognised from date of probate where a reliable estimate of income can be calculated as at the year-end date. Changes in estimates notified after the year-end date will be reflected in the year-end accounts only where it is clear that the information was available as at the year-end date. Other changes in estimates notified after the year-end date will be disclosed in note 1 (q). We do not recognise residuary legacies where there is evidence of uncertainty of receipt.

Income from will trusts or reversionary trusts is not recognised until the life interest has passed away.

Income from pecuniary legacies is recognised upon notification by the executor that a legacy is payable or upon notification of grant of probate, whichever is sooner.

Donations are recognised when income is receivable. Gift Aid income on donations is accrued when there is a valid declaration from the donor. Gifts donated for resale are included as income when they are sold. Donated assets and services are included at the value to the British Red Cross where this can be reliably quantified. Gifts in kind for onward distribution are included at fair value and are recognised as income and stock when they are received from donors and in expenditure when they are distributed to beneficiaries. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), no amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers, including professional services provided directly by volunteers.

Trading income is recognised on point of sale for both donated and purchased goods. Gift Aid income claimed under the UK Retail Gift Aid scheme is estimated and accrued at the point of sale.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Accounts

57

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

Income from government grants is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds and any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met. This may result in accrued income being recognised as a debtors in our balance sheet.

Income from Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeals is recognised in the year that the amount of the allocation of the appeal income is confirmed by the DEC to the British Red Cross.

(d) Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the British Red Cross to that expenditure, it is probable that settlement will be required, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Direct costs are those specifically related to producing the output of an activity, for example the costs incurred in direct contact with beneficiaries.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes grants payable and costs incurred directly by the British Red Cross in the furtherance of its charitable objectives, along with associated support costs. Grants payable to partner organisations are part of the costs of activities in furtherance of the objects of the charity. This is because much of the charity’s programme activity is carried out through grants to local organisations that support long-term sustainable programmes which are monitored by the charity. Grants are also made to fund immediate emergency relief in times of crisis, catastrophe or natural disaster.

Support costs are those which provide indirect support to frontline output provision – examples are central finance, human resources, governance costs, and information and digital technology. Support costs not attributable to a single activity have been allocated on a basis consistent with identified cost drivers for that cost category, such as staff head count, floor space and expenditure.

(e) Tangible and intangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation All tangible fixed assets which individually cost more than £5,000 are capitalised and included at cost, including any incidental expenses of acquisition and irrecoverable VAT. However, if components of equipment (e.g. office furnishings or computers) are acquired with individual unit costs below the capitalisation threshold but with collective costs exceeding £5,000 and anticipated asset lives in excess of two years, then these groups of assets are collectively capitalised at the time of purchase. Depreciation is provided on a straight-line basis over their useful economic lives as follows:

Freehold buildings Leasehold buildings

50 years

the shorter of the term of the lease and 50 years ten years

Freehold building improvements Leasehold building improvements

the shorter of the term of the lease and ten years

Ambulances the shorter of the useful life and seven years Other vehicles the shorter of the useful life and five years Equipment and furniture five years Computer equipment and software between two and five years Freehold land nil Assets in course of construction nil

Intangible fixed assets and amortisation

Intangible assets are held on the balance sheet at cost less accumulated amortisation and impairment losses. IT software, websites and licences are capitalised as an intangible asset and amortised on a straight-line basis over the expected useful life of three to five years.

Impairment

Impairment reviews are conducted in respect of tangible and intangible fixed assets when events and changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may have occurred. If any asset is found to have a carrying value higher than its recoverable amount it is written down accordingly.

(f) Financial instruments

Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the British Red Cross becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. All financial assets and liabilities are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs). The British Red Cross only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered and after any bad debt provisions. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due. Creditors and provisions are recognised where the British Red Cross has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

58

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

(g) Pensions

The British Red Cross operates defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes.

Defined benefit pension schemes

Pension assets and liabilities are recorded in line with FRS 102, with scheme valuations undertaken by independent actuaries. FRS 102 measures the value of pension assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and determines the benefits accrued in the year and the interest on assets and liabilities.

Current service costs, together with the net interest cost for the year, are allocated to relevant expenditure headings within the SOFA.

Scheme assets are measured at fair value at the balance sheet date. Scheme liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis at the balance sheet date using the projected unit method and discounted at a rate equivalent to the current rate of return on a high-quality corporate bond of equivalent term to the scheme liabilities.

The change in the value of assets and liabilities arising from asset valuation, changes in benefits, actuarial assumptions, or change in the level of deficit attributable to members is recognised in the consolidated statement of financial activities within actuarial gains/losses on defined benefit pension schemes.

The resulting defined benefit asset or liability is presented separately on the face of the balance sheet. The British Red Cross recognises assets for its defined benefit pension schemes to the extent that they are considered recoverable through reduced contributions in the future, or through refunds from the scheme.

Defined contribution pension schemes

Pension costs in respect of defined contribution schemes are charged to the SOFA for the period in which they are payable. Such costs are allocated to activities and between funds according to an employee’s normal job function.

(h) Investments

Fixed and current asset investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The SOFA shows net investment gains and losses arising from revaluation of the investment portfolio and disposals during the year.

Funds not immediately required are invested in a combination of longand medium-term low-risk funds and short-term deposits. Fixed asset investments are made for periods in excess of three years. Mediumterm investments are normally classed as fixed asset investments and made for periods of one to three years. Short-term investments are for immediate funding requirements, are usually classed as current assets and include term deposits invested for terms in excess of 90 days and up to one year (see note 11).

(i) Investment properties

Investment properties held for their investment potential are recorded at fair value. Unrealised revaluation gains and losses are credited or charged to the SOFA in the year of revaluation. No provision is made for depreciation of investment properties. A triennial review of the carrying value of investment properties is performed at the balance sheet date. This involves a professional valuation of properties by an independent valuer at arm’s length.

(j) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes interest and non-interest bearing accounts held with banks and similar institutions. Cash equivalents comprise money-market funds deposited for immediate access or funds deposited for a term of up to 90 days. These are short-term, highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and that are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value.

(k) Stocks

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. As it is not practical to value items donated for resale on receipt, they are not recognised in the financial statements until they are sold.

Emergency stocks held for disaster response are transferred from stock to expenditure when issued from the warehouse. Undistributed gifts in kind are recognised on the balance sheet as stocks at the fair value of those gifts.

(l) Taxation

Irrecoverable value added tax is allocated to the category of expenditure to which it relates.

As a registered charity, the British Red Cross is entitled to certain exemptions from corporation tax on profits from investments and any trading activities carried on in furtherance of the charity’s primary objectives. The subsidiary company makes qualifying donations of all taxable profits to the British Red Cross and thus does not incur corporation tax. Costs are recorded net of recoverable VAT as the British Red Cross is able to reclaim a proportion of VAT paid, because of its trading activities, using the partial exemption method.

(m) Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the British Red Cross has a legal or constructive financial obligation that can be reliably estimated and for which it is more than probable that the payment will be made. The main categories of obligations the British Red Cross will recognise are:

Dilapidations – arising where property leases oblige the British Red Cross to cover the cost of restoring retail and office properties to their original condition when ending its occupation as those leases terminate.

Organisational restructuring – arising where the British Red Cross incurs costs associated with restructuring or reorganising its UK or international operations. These could include redundancy payments that are payable when employment is terminated before the normal retirement date or end of employment contract. Redundancy costs are recognised at the earlier of when the British Red Cross can no longer withdraw the offer of the benefits or when the Group recognises any related restructuring costs.

Stock – Provision is made for obsolete, slow-moving or defective stock where appropriate.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

59

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

1. Accounting policies (continued)

(n) Operating leases

Rentals under operating leases are charged on a straight-line basis over the lease terms, even if the payments are not made on such a basis. Benefits received and receivable as an incentive to sign an operating lease are, similarly, spread on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

(o) Foreign currencies

The British Red Cross uses forward exchange contracts to hedge some of its known foreign exchange exposure. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate of exchange prevailing at the date of the transaction, except where a forward contract is in place, in which case the rate specified in the contract is used.

Monetary assets and liabilities are translated into sterling at the exchange rate ruling on the balance sheet date, except where a forward contract is in place, in which case the relevant asset/liability is translated at the rate contained in the contract.

Foreign exchange gains are recognised as other income and foreign exchange losses are recognised in the consolidated statement of financial activities within the relevant charitable activity expenditure for the period in which they are incurred.

(p) Programme commitments

The British Red Cross regularly pledges support to programmes led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Committee of the Red Cross or other National Societies. Where full payment of the pledges is contingent on the outcome of British Red Cross reviews of the programmes, these programme commitments are contingent liabilities and therefore not recognised on the balance sheet.

(q) Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the Group’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements (other than those involving estimations) that have a significant impact on the amounts recognised and to make

estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on a combination of historical experience, professional expert advice and other factors considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.

Critical judgements in applying the Group’s accounting policies

The following are the critical judgements, apart from those involving estimations, which the trustees have made in the process of applying the Group’s accounting policies and that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements.

Grant income (see note 3): The critical judgements involved in the recognition of grant income are over whether grants have performance conditions attached to them which have to be met before income can be recognised, as well as judgement over whether or not those conditions have been satisfied.

The British Red Cross receives grants which may be passed on to other Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies or parts of the global network or other providers. The British Red Cross considers it is acting as principal in these transactions where it has discretion about the use to which the funds received are put or where the grant funder has recourse to the British Red Cross.

Key sources of estimation uncertainty

The following are considered to be the key assumptions concerning the future, and other key sources of estimation uncertainty at the balance sheet date, which have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year.

Accrued legacy income (see note 14): The legacy income receivable amounts to £35.8m at the year-end (2024: £38.7m). The income is recognised on a receivable basis when the charity is entitled to the legacy, receipt is probable, and the value can be estimated with sufficient accuracy. The critical judgement involved is the recognition of legacy income.

Other increases and decreases in legacy income notified after the year-end date and not reflected in the year-end financial statements, in line with the Accounting Policy note 1 (c) were a net increase of £0.8m (2024: £1.7m).

Income is recorded when the recognition criteria are met. The key sources of estimation uncertainty relate to the value of the legacy, and the legal fees and other liabilities, which are estimated based on the best information available at the balance sheet date. Due to the uncertainty associated with such items, there is a possibility that, on conclusion of open matters at a future date, the final outcome may differ significantly. Accrued legacy income may take time to be realised. Based on historical evidence that timing delays do not materially affect ultimate receipts, legacy income is recognised at its full estimated value without discounting for the expected period to receipt.

Defined benefit pension schemes (see note 19): The defined benefit pension scheme surplus amounts to £1.5m at the year-end (2024: £1.5m). Estimates of the pension scheme surplus depend on a number of complex estimates and assumptions related to the discount rate, mortality rates, inflation rates, changes in retirement ages and asset returns. The Group engages actuaries to provide expert advice about actuarial assumptions made and the effect on the pension scheme surplus of changes in those assumptions, based on FRS 102 requirements and their knowledge of the pension schemes. It is reasonably possible, based on existing knowledge, that outcomes within the next financial year that are different from assumptions could require a material adjustment to the carrying amount of the affected asset.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

60

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

2. Donations and legacies

4. Expenditure

			2025			2024
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Regulargiving	27.5	2.4	29.9	29.1	1.1	30.2
Public donations,appeals and fundraising	14.3	32.8	47.1	15.4	29.3	44.7
Donations to services	0.3	-	0.3	0.2	-	0.2
Gift aid	8.2	1.2	9.4	7.9	1.1	9.0
Legacies	38.5	1.0	39.5	42.6	1.6	44.2
Disasters EmergencyCommittee appeals	-	6.8	6.8	-	5.0	5.0
Total	88.8	44.2	133.0	95.2	38.1	133.3

Legacy income is recognised in accordance with Accounting Policy note 1 (c). The estimated value of legacies, which have been notified but not recognised at 31 December 2025, was £8.2m (2024: £7.4m) of which £4.1m (2024: £3.9m) are assets bequeathed to the British Red Cross, but subject to life tenancy.

During 2025, gifts in kind of £0.6m (2024: £1.9m) were received, primarily comprised of donated SIM cards from Vodafone aimed at connecting vulnerable people with family and friends.

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal income recognised is £6.8m, (2024: £5.0m). DEC appeals for Türkiye-Syria and Pakistan reached maturity during 2025. The only DEC appeal to launch during 2025 was the Myanmar Earthquake Appeal and the British Red Cross received £2.6m of allocated income.

	Direct		Support	2025	Direct		Support	2024
	costs	Grants	costs	Total	costs	Grants	costs	Total
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Raising funds
Fundraising	32.2	-	4.3	36.5	28.7	-	4.0	32.7
Retail	34.6	-	5.5	40.1	34.2	-	5.4	39.6
	66.8	-	9.8	76.6	62.9	-	9.4	72.3
Charitable activities
Our UK work
Disasters and emergencies	28.1	0.2	7.8	36.1	26.5	0.1	7.4	34.0
Displacement and migration	22.4	0.1	5.5	28.0	23.6	-	5.2	28.8
Health and care	43.5	-	9.8	53.3	47.7	-	10.9	58.6
	94.0	0.3	23.1	117.4	97.8	0.1	23.5	121.4
Our work across the world	24.9	77.5	8.3	110.7	24.8	82.8	9.0	116.6
	118.9	77.8	31.4	228.1	122.6	82.9	32.5	238.0
Total	185.7	77.8	41.2	304.7	185.5	82.9	41.9	310.3

The basis of allocation of support costs is described in note 1(d) and further analysis is provided in note 5. It is not appropriate to split support costs between direct costs and grants due to the dual role played by programme support functions.

3. Income from charitable activities

	Contracts		2025	Contracts		2024
	and fees	Grants	Total	and fees	Grants	Total
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Our UK work
Disasters and emergencies	20.9	2.1	23.0	18.3	0.8	19.1
Displacement and migration	1.0	0.6	1.6	1.1	1.2	2.3
Health and care	31.8	1.5	33.3	33.3	1.7	35.0
	53.7	4.2	57.9	52.7	3.7	56.4
Our work across the world	0.4	56.3	56.7	0.3	52.1	52.4
Total	54.1	60.5	114.6	53.0	55.8	108.8

Our total expenditure includes irrecoverable VAT of £1.4m (2024: £1.9m) and fees to auditors for audit of financial statements of £0.15m (2024: £0.15m).

	2025	2024
Grants	Total	Total
Grant receipient	£m	£m
International Federation of Red Cross(IFRC)and Red Crescent Societies	35.2	28.4
International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC)	3.2	1.9
Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies	37.4	51.1
Othergrants	2.0	1.5
Total	77.8	82.9

International grant income includes grants from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) totalling £52.3m (2024: £49.6m).

i) £9.0m (2024: £8.8m) received as part of the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies Institutional Strategy Agreement with FCDO. ii) £2.9m (2024: £14.9m) received to support the Ukraine crisis.

iii) £24.4m (2024: £8.1m) to support other emergency response programmes. iv) £2.0m (2024: £2.0m) as part of the Movement Core Funding with FCDO.

v) £14.0m (2024: £15.8m) to support long-term programmes in regions including Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Türkiye. There are no unfulfilled conditions or other contingencies attached to these grants.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

61

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

4. Expenditure (continued) Grants

4. Expenditure (continued) Grants
		2025	2024
		Total	Total
Grant recipients	Purpose	£m	£m
International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies
IFRC	Movement Core Funding JBC 2021-24	9.0	8.9
IFRC IFRC IFRC	Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal Myanmar Earthquake Appeal FCDO Afghanistan SHAPE Programme 2024-2026	4.2 3.8 2.9	- - 1.5
IFRC IFRC IFRC	Movement Contributions ESTA Ukraine Crisis 2022 Madagascar Preparedness and Resilience	2.8 1.5 1.5	2.9 0.9 -
IFRC	Zambia CATI 2025	1.1	-
IFRC	Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP)	1.0	1.3
IFRC	Africa Mpox Outbreak 2024	1.0	0.4
IFRC	Hurricane Melissa	1.0	-
IFRC	Sri Lanka Cyclone Ditwah Response 2025	0.7	-
IFRC	Enhancing HD in Europe Region	0.6	0.5
IFRC	FCDO Türkiye Livelihoods	0.5	-
IFRC	Afghanistan Crisis 2021: Central project code	0.5	-
IFRC	Pakistan Humanitarian Empowerment Program	0.5	-
IFRC	Vanuatu Earthquake (December 2024)	0.4	-
IFRC	Movement Contributions E&S Africa	0.4	0.2
IFRC	Various	0.3	-
IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC	Afghanistan Population Movement 2025 Philippines Cebu Earthquake Response 2025 WISER MENA Nigeria Malnutrition Crisis	0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2	- - - -
IFRC	FCDO Support to URCS One Plan 2023-2024	0.2	-
IFRC	Somalia Complex Emergency 2025	0.1	-
IFRC	Sahel Integrated Climate Resilience & Migration	0.1	-
IFRC	Storm Boris 2024	0.1	0.3
IFRC	Technical Advisory Strategic Funds	0.1	-
IFRC	Kenya and Uganda Jengu Handwashing Unit Study	-	0.1
IFRC	Afghanistan Crisis 2021: Afghanistan in-country only	-	-
IFRC	Asia Regional DRR/CCA Project	-	0.1
IFRC	Bangladesh Population Movement 2017	-	0.3
IFRC	DM and WASH Support to Vulnerable Communities in Yemen	-	0.1
IFRC	HEF Grant to Zambia Cholera Outbreak	-	0.5
IFRC	Pakistan Monsoon Flood 2022	-	2.3
IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC IFRC	Hurricane Beryl 2024 Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal 2023 Libya Floods Emergency Appeal Mediterranean Migration and Displacement Morocco Earthquake Movement Contributions-FSL Movement Contributions W&C Africa and OSBs Multilateral M&D and NSD Support to MRCS via IFRC Multilateral M&D and NSD Support to PRC via IFRC Nigeria Diptheria Outbreak Nigeria NS Development Sahel Hunger Prevention Programme Sudan Confict 2023	- - - - - - - - - - - - -	0.1 0.8 0.4 0.1 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2
IFRC	Support to the Movement	-	0.1
IFRC	Vietnam Cyclone Yagi Response 2024	-	0.5
IFRC	Zimbabwe Cholera Response	- 35.2	3.8 28.4
		2025 Total	2024 Total
Grant recipients	Purpose	£m	£m
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
ICRC	Israel and Occupied Palestian Territory Appeal 2023	2.5	-
ICRC ICRC ICRC	Yemen Red Crescent Cash Preparedness Somalia National Society Development Initiative (NSDI) Sudan Confict 2023	0.3 0.2 0.1	0.5 0.1 -
ICRC	Movement Contributions E&S Africa	0.1	-
ICRC ICRC ICRC	Ukraine Crisis 2022 Libya Floods Emergency Appeal Lebanon Livelihood'Flagship'2021-2022	- - - 3.2	1.1 0.4 (0.2) 1.9

4. Expenditure (continued) Grants

4. Expenditure (continued) Grants
	2025	2024
	Total	Total
Grant recipients	Purpose £m	£m
Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies
Ukrainian Red Cross Society	FCDO URCS Early Recovery 2025-2026 6.6	-
Turkish Red Crescent Society	FCDO Türkiye Livelihoods 3.9	-
Danish Red Cross Society	Ethiopia Crisis to Resilience 3.4	5.7
Palestine Red Cross Society	Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal 2023 3.0	0.3
Ukrainian Red Cross Society	Bilateral Humanitarian Response Ukraine 2025-2026 2.5	-
Lebanese Red Cross Ukrainian Red Cross Society Danish Red Cross Austrian Red Cross Kenya Red Cross Society	Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal 2023 1.5 FCDO Support to URCS One Plan 2023-2024 1.7 Sudan Confict 2023 1.3 Bilateral Support to URCS-2024 1.2 Integrated Food Security and Livelihoods Kenya 0.9	2.4 12.9 - - 1.3
Nigerian Red Cross Society	Nigeria Disaster Management 0.8	0.3
Nigerian Red Cross Society	Nigeria NS Development 0.5	-
Norwegian Red Cross	Myanmar Earthquake Appeal 0.5	-
Red Cross of Chad Nepal Red Cross Society	Chad Integrated Programme 0.5 Biodiversity Conservation with NbS 0.5	- -
French Red Cross Turkish Red Crescent Society	Mauritania Integrated Programme 0.5 Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal 0.4	- -
Lebanese Red Cross Swedish Red Cross Bangladesh Red Crescent Society	LRC-ICRC-BRC Flagship Phase 3 2023-25 0.4 Bangladesh Population Movement 2017 0.4 Bangladesh Adaption to Rising Flood Risk 0.4	0.3 0.2 0.2
German Red Cross Kenya Red Cross Society	Yemen Emergency Obstetrics Care Unit Hajjah 0.4 Kenya Peer-to-Peer NSD 0.3	- 0.2
Kenya Red Cross Society	Kenya Nature Based Solutions 0.3	0.1
Romanian Red Cross Norwegian Red Cross	Bilateral M&D and NSD Support to RRC 0.3 Libya Floods Emergency Appeal 0.3	0.1 -
Zimbabwe Red Cross Society	Zimbabwe DM 0.3	-
Kenya Red Cross Society	Kenya Refugees Operations 0.3	-
Bangladesh Red Crescent Society	NSD in Asia 0.3	-
French Red Cross Nepal Red Cross Society	Sahel Migration Programme 0.2 Nepal Health Inequalities & Climate Adaptation 0.2	- 0.3
Baphalali Eswatini (Swaziland) Red Cross Society	Eswatini-National Society Development 0.2	0.2
Baphalali Eswatini (Swaziland) Red Cross Society	Eswatini-Silele Phase 2-PPL 0.2	0.2
French Red Cross Zimbabwe Red Cross Society	WCA FbF EAP Capacity Building 0.1 Zimbabwe-National Society Development 0.1	0.2 0.1
Baphalali Eswatini (Swaziland) Red Cross Society	Eswatini: Disaster Management and Resilience 0.1	0.1
Nepal Red Cross Society	Nepal Flood and Landslide Response 2024 0.1	0.1
Ukrainian Red Cross Society	Bilateral Support to URCS–2024 -	3.0
French Red Cross French Red Cross Norwegian Red Cross	Sahel Hunger Prevention Programme - Africa Mpox Outbreak 2024 - BRC Support to SARC 2022-2023 -	0.6 0.6 0.2
Nepal Red Cross Society	Nepal Karnali Earthquake 2023 -	0.2
Nepal Red Cross Society	Early Livelihood Recovery and Resilience In Nepal -	0.1
Italian Red Cross Bangladesh Red Crescent Society	Italian Red Cross–Disaster Preparedness - Bangladesh UKAM Grant Management -	0.1 0.1
Danish Red Cross Society	DRC-supported YRCS Primary Health Centres -	0.1
Syrian Arab Red Crescent	Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal -	6.6
Danish Red Cross Society	FCDO Support to URCS One Plan 2023-2024 -	4.3
Netherlands Red Cross Lebanese Red Cross Ethopian Red Cross Society	Ethiopia Crisis to Resilience - LRC Framework Agreement 2022-23 - Ethiopia Crisis to Resilience -	2.1 1.5 0.8
Bangladesh Red Crescent Society	Bangladesh Cyclone Season 2024 -	0.5
French Red Cross Sierra Leone Red Cross Society	Sahel Migration Programme - Integrated Resilience Programme -	0.3 0.3
Kenya Red Cross Society	Kenya Emergency Fund -	0.3
Syrian Arab Red Crescent	BRC Support to SARC 2022-2023 -	0.2
Danish Red Cross Society	LR Support to IDP and Refugee Communities in Iraq -	0.1
German Red Cross Red Cross of Chad Lebanese Red Cross Red Cross of Chad Various	Yemen Complex Emergency 2014 - Sahel Migration Programme - Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal - Sudan Confict 2023 - Various 2.8	0.1 0.3 0.6 0.1 2.8
	37.4	51.1
	2025	2024
	Total	Total
Othergrants	Purpose £m	£m
Various recipients	Various Projects 1.9	1.4
Various recipients	VCSEP-DCMS 0.1	0.1
	2.0	1.5
Total	77.8	82.9

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

62

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

5. Support costs by activity

6. Subsidiaries

					Our work
	Raising	Disasters and	Displacement	Health and	across the	2025	Main
	funds	emergencies	and migration	care	world	Total	allocation
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	basis
Finance	1.8	0.7	0.5	1.0	2.7	6.7	Expenditure %
Human resources	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.1	1.1	FTE
Information and digital technology	3.7	4.4	3.0	4.8	1.6	17.5	No of PCs
Central management	0.1	-	-	0.1	0.2	0.4	Expenditure %
Governance	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.5	1.3	2.9	Expenditure %
Property	1.8	0.6	0.5	0.8	-	3.7	Floor Space/Expenditure %
Other support costs	1.7	1.5	1.1	2.2	2.4	8.9	Expenditure %
Total	9.8	7.8	5.5	9.8	8.3	41.2

					Our work
	Raising	Disasters and	Displacement	Health and	across the	2024	Main
	funds	emergencies	and migration	care	world	Total	allocation
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	basis
Finance	1.9	0.7	0.5	1.2	3.1	7.4	Expenditure %
Human resources	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.5	0.1	1.1	FTE
Information and digital technology	3.5	4.0	3.3	6.0	1.5	18.3	No of PCs
Central management	0.1	0.1	-	0.1	0.2	0.5	Expenditure %
Governance	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.5	1.3	2.9	Expenditure %
Property	1.5	0.9	0.1	0.7	-	3.2	Floor Space/Expenditure %
Other support costs	1.7	1.2	0.9	1.9	2.8	8.5	Expenditure %
Total	9.4	7.4	5.2	10.9	9.0	41.9

Support costs have been allocated on the basis of the accounting policy set out in note 1 (d).

Governance costs relate to the running of the charity, allowing the charity to operate and generate the information required for public accountability. They include the costs of subscriptions related to membership of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement of £1.9m (2024: £2.0m), as well as the costs of trustee meetings and internal and external audits.

Britcross Limited

Britcross Limited, the British Red Cross’ wholly owned trading subsidiary incorporated in the UK (company number 00932598), engages in the sale of cards and gifts as well as receiving corporate sponsorship in aid of the British Red Cross.

	2025	2024
The income and expenditure of Britcross Limited included within the consolidated statement of fnancial activities are:	£m	£m
Income	1.5	2.5
Expenditure	(1.0)	(1.3)
Net income donated to British Red Cross	0.5	1.2
	2025	2024
The assets and liabilities of Britcross Limited consolidated within the balance sheet are:	£m	£m
Current assets	1.3	2.3
Current liabilities	(1.3)	(2.3)
Net assets	-	-

Overseas subsidiaries

The British Red Cross has five wholly owned overseas subsidiaries: Bermuda Red Cross Charitable Trust, Bermuda Red Cross, Cayman Islands Red Cross, Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross and British Virgin Islands Red Cross.

The income and expenditure of the overseas subsidiaries included within the consolidated statement of financial activities are:

Bermuda Red Cross Charitable Trust Bermuda Red Cross Cayman Islands Red Cross 2025 £m 2024 £m 2025 £m 2024 £m 2025 £m 2024 £m Income - 0.1 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.1 Expenditure (0.1) (0.1) (0.7) (0.3) (1.0) (1.1) Net income/(expenditure) incorporated in group accounts (0.1) - (0.2) 0.2 - - The assets and liabilities of overseas subsidiaries consolidated within the balance sheet are: Bermuda Red Cross Charitable Trust Bermuda Red Cross Cayman Islands Red Cross 2025 £m 2024 £m 2025 £m 2024 £m 2025 £m 2024 £m Fixed assets 0.8 0.9 - - 0.6 0.6 Current assets - - 0.2 0.3 1.5 1.2 Current liabilities (0.1) (0.1) (0.1) - (0.4) - Net Assets 0.7 0.8 0.1 0.3 1.7 1.8	Bermuda Red Cross	Cayman Islands Red Cross	Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross	British Virgin Islands Red Cross
	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m
	0.5 0.5	1.0 1.1	0.4 0.2	0.5 0.3
	(0.7) (0.3)	(1.0) (1.1)	(0.3) (0.2)	(0.3) (0.4)
	(0.2) 0.2	- -	0.1 -	0.2 (0.1)
	Bermuda Red Cross	Cayman Islands Red Cross	Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross	British Virgin Islands Red Cross
	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m	2025 £m 2024 £m
	- -	0.6 0.6	- -	0.5 0.5
	0.2 0.3	1.5 1.2	0.1 -	0.4 0.1
	(0.1) -	(0.4) -	- -	(0.1) (0.1)
	0.1 0.3	1.7 1.8	0.1 -	0.8 0.5

The assets and liabilities of overseas subsidiaries consolidated within the balance sheet are:

There are five overseas branches (Anguilla, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat and St Helena) which are included in the results of the charity as branches.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

63

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

7. Restricted funds

7. Restricted funds (continued)

					Net
	Balance			Net	investment	Balance
	1 January			investment	gains/(losses)	31 December
	2025	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Historical	Transfers 2025
Group	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m £m
Ukraine – UK operations	3.1	-	(1.4)	0.1	0.2	- 2.0
PPL PartnershipManagement	1.2	3.2	(0.1)	-	-	(3.0) 1.3
Vodaphone SIM Card Gift in Kind	0.9	0.4	(0.6)	-	-	- 0.7
Afghanistan – UK operations	0.2	-	(0.2)	-	-	- -
Other UK restricted funds	21.3	10.3	(16.9)	0.2	(9.8)	3.2 8.3
Total UK restricted funds	26.7	13.9	(19.2)	0.3	(9.6)	0.2 12.3
Ukraine Crisis	56.3	4.3	(7.5)	2.8	4.7	(0.7) 59.9
Türkiye-Syria Earthquake	16.6	0.4	(5.4)	0.6	1.1	- 13.3
Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory	13.8	20.3	(10.8)	1.1	1.9	0.5 26.8
Overseas branches and subsidiaries	4.0	2.1	(2.2)	-	-	- 3.9
Morocco Earthquake	4.8	-	-	0.1	0.1	(3.2) 1.8
Pakistan Floods	2.4	0.3	-	0.1	0.2	- 3.0
Libya Floods	2.1	-	(0.5)	0.1	0.2	- 1.9
Afghanistan Crisis	2.1	0.4	(0.6)	0.1	0.2	- 2.2
Syria and Region Crisis	0.4	0.1	(0.4)	-	0.1	0.4 0.6
Movement Core FundingJBC 2021-24	0.4	11.0	(9.6)	-	-	(1.8) -
Other international restricted funds	14.4	48.6	(57.9)	0.6	0.8	9.5 16.0
Total international restricted funds	117.3	87.5	(94.9)	5.5	9.3	4.7 129.4
Disaster Fund	2.7	6.9	(2.1)	0.2	0.3	(5.1) 2.9
Total restricted funds	146.7	108.3	(116.2)	6.0	-	(0.2) 144.6

					Net
	Balance			Net	investments		Balance
	1 January			investment	gains/(losses)		31 December
	2025	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Historical	Transfers	2025
Charity	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Ukraine – UK operations	3.1	-	(1.4)	0.1	0.2	-	2.0
PPL PartnershipManagement	1.2	3.2	(0.1)	-	-	(3.0)	1.3
Vodaphone SIM Card Gift in Kind	0.9	0.4	(0.6)	-	-	-	0.7
Afghanistan – UK operations	0.2	-	(0.2)	-	-	-	-
Other UK restricted funds	21.3	10.3	(16.9)	0.2	(9.8)	3.2	8.3
Total UK restricted funds	26.7	13.9	(19.2)	0.3	(9.6)	0.2	12.3
Ukraine Crisis	56.3	4.3	(7.5)	2.8	4.7	(0.7)	59.9
Türkiye-Syria Earthquake	16.6	0.4	(5.4)	0.6	1.1	-	13.3
Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory	13.8	20.3	(10.8)	1.1	1.9	0.5	26.8
Overseas branches	0.9	0.2	(0.2)	-	-	-	0.9
Morocco Earthquake	4.8	-	-	0.1	0.1	(3.2)	1.8
Pakistan Floods	2.4	0.3	-	0.1	0.2	-	3.0
Libya Floods	2.1	-	(0.5)	0.1	0.2	-	1.9
Afghanistan Crisis	2.1	0.4	(0.6)	0.1	0.2	-	2.2
Syria and Region Crisis	0.4	0.1	(0.4)	-	0.1	0.4	0.6
Movement Core FundingJBC 2021-24	0.4	11.0	(9.6)	-	-	(1.8)	-
Other international restricted funds	14.4	48.6	(57.9)	0.6	0.8	9.5	16.0
Total international restricted funds	114.2	85.6	(92.9)	5.5	9.3	4.7	126.4
Disaster Fund	2.7	6.9	(2.1)	0.2	0.3	(5.1)	2.9
Total restricted funds	143.6	106.4	(114.2)	6.0	-	(0.2)	141.6

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

64

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

7. Restricted funds

7. Restricted funds (continued)

	Balance			Net		Balance
	1 January			investment		31 December
	2024	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Transfers	2024
Group	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Ukraine - UK operations	3.6	-	(1.6)	-	1.1	3.1
PPL PartnershipManagement	1.0	3.1	(0.1)	-	(2.8)	1.2
Vodaphone SIM Card Gift in Kind	0.3	1.9	(1.3)	-	-	0.9
Afghanistan - UK operations	0.5	-	(0.5)	-	0.2	0.2
Covid-19 HardshipFund	0.1	-	(0.1)	-	-	-
Other UK restricted funds	17.3	10.4	(13.5)	5.7	1.4	21.3
Total UK restricted funds	22.8	15.4	(17.1)	5.7	(0.1)	26.7
Ukraine Crisis	59.6	3.0	(3.6)	-	(2.7)	56.3
Türkiye-Syria Earthquake	22.5	1.8	(7.7)	-	-	16.6
Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory	5.5	13.4	(5.7)	-	0.6	13.8
Overseas branches and subsidiaries	4.1	2.5	(2.6)	-	-	4.0
Morocco Earthquake	5.9	0.5	(0.9)	-	(0.7)	4.8
Pakistan Floods	5.3	0.3	(3.2)	-	-	2.4
Libya Floods	2.9	0.5	(0.8)	-	(0.5)	2.1
Afghanistan Crisis	2.4	0.1	(0.2)	-	(0.2)	2.1
Syria and Region Crisis	1.8	0.2	(1.5)	-	(0.1)	0.4
Movement Core FundingJBC 2021-24	0.7	11.0	(9.6)	-	(1.7)	0.4
Other international restricted funds	17.4	44.9	(58.1)	-	10.2	14.4
Total international restricted funds	128.1	78.2	(93.9)	-	4.9	117.3
Disaster Fund	4.1	3.6	(0.4)	-	(4.6)	2.7
Total restricted funds	155.0	97.2	(111.4)	5.7	0.2	146.7

	Balance			Net		Balance
	1 January			investment		31 December
	2024	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Transfers	2024
Charity	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Ukraine - UK operations	3.6	-	(1.6)	-	1.1	3.1
PPL PartnershipManagement	1.0	3.1	(0.1)	-	(2.8)	1.2
Vodaphone SIM Card Gift in Kind	0.3	1.9	(1.3)	-	-	0.9
Afghanistan - UK operations	0.5	-	(0.5)	-	0.2	0.2
Covid-19 HardshipFund	0.1	-	(0.1)	-	-	-
Other UK restricted funds	17.3	10.4	(13.5)	5.7	1.4	21.3
Total UK restricted funds	22.8	15.4	(17.1)	5.7	(0.1)	26.7
Ukraine Crisis	59.6	3.0	(3.6)	-	(2.7)	56.3
Türkiye-Syria Earthquake	22.5	1.8	(7.7)	-	-	16.6
Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory	5.5	13.4	(5.7)	-	0.6	13.8
Overseas branches	0.9	0.3	(0.3)	-	-	0.9
Morocco Earthquake	5.9	0.5	(0.9)	-	(0.7)	4.8
Pakistan Floods	5.3	0.3	(3.2)	-	-	2.4
Libya Floods	2.9	0.5	(0.8)	-	(0.5)	2.1
Afghanistan Crisis	2.4	0.1	(0.2)	-	(0.2)	2.1
Syria and Region Crisis	1.8	0.2	(1.5)	-	(0.1)	0.4
Movement Core FundingJBC 2021-24	0.7	11.0	(9.6)	-	(1.7)	0.4
Other international restricted funds	17.4	45.0	(58.1)	-	10.1	14.4
Total international restricted funds	124.9	76.1	(91.6)	-	4.8	114.2
Disaster Fund	4.1	3.6	(0.4)	-	(4.6)	2.7
Total restricted funds	151.8	95.1	(109.1)	5.7	0.1	143.6

Expenditure plans have been agreed for all material restricted funds.

UK restricted funds

Other UK restricted funds include:

i) a variety of local, national and European funding sources to deliver projects over the next two to three years ii) legacies with a geographical and/or service restriction

iii) the balance of UK restricted funds held for provision of locally agreed services

International restricted funds

Other international restricted funds include:

i) FCDO Afghanistan SHAPE Programme 2024-2026 – 2025: £3.1m (2024: £1.4m) ii) Myanmar Earthquake Appeal – 2025: £2.1m (2024: £0m)

Disaster Fund

The Disaster Fund enables us to prepare for and respond to humanitarian disasters abroad and in the UK. We fundraise specifically for the Disaster Fund and, as stated on emergency appeal materials, it can also contain funds donated to emergency appeals where we raise more than can be reasonably and efficiently spent on that specific response.

Transfers

All material transfers relate to reallocations, moving funds from restricted primary projects that hold central funding, to support sub-projects to fund operational delivery of restricted programmes.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

65

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

8. Unrestricted funds

8. Unrestricted funds
	Balance			Net		Actuarial gains/(losses) on defned beneft	Balance
	1 January			investment		pension	31 December
	2025	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Transfers	schemes	2025
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Group
Unrestricted funds held as fxed assets	41.2	-	(5.9)	-	2.0	-	37.3
Defned beneftpension scheme fund	1.5	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
Free reserves	64.5	185.2	(182.6)	-	(1.8)	-	65.3
Total unrestricted funds	107.2	185.2	(188.5)	-	0.2	-	104.1
Charity
Unrestricted funds held as fxed assets	41.2	-	(5.9)	-	2.0	-	37.3
Defned beneftpension scheme fund	1.5	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
Free reserves	65.3	184.3	(181.7)	-	(1.8)	-	66.1
Total unrestricted funds	108.0	184.3	(187.6)	-	0.2	-	104.9
						Actuarial
						gains/(losses)
						on defned
	Balance			Net		beneft	Balance
	1 January			investment		pension	31 December
	2024	Income	Expenditure	gains/(losses)	Transfers	schemes	2024
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Group
Unrestricted funds held as fxed assets	45.0	-	(4.9)	-	1.1	-	41.2
Defned beneftpension scheme fund	1.5	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
Designated funds	14.0	-	(8.8)	-	(5.2)	-	-
Free reserves	55.9	189.9	(185.2)	-	3.9	-	64.5
Total unrestricted funds	116.4	189.9	(198.9)	-	(0.2)	-	107.2
Charity
Unrestricted funds held as fxed assets	45.0	-	(4.9)	-	1.1	-	41.2
Defned beneftpension scheme fund	1.5	-	-	-	-	-	1.5
Designated funds	14.0	-	(8.8)	-	(5.2)	-	-
Free reserves	56.7	188.6	(183.9)	-	3.9	-	65.3
Total unrestricted funds	117.2	188.6	(197.6)	-	(0.2)	-	108.0

9. Intangible assets

	IT software,	Assets in the
Group and charity	websites and	course of
	licences	construction	Total
Cost	£m	£m	£m
At 1 January2025	9.5	3.9	13.4
Additions	-	3.9	3.9
Transfers from assets in the course of construction	3.7	(3.7)	-
Disposals	(4.0)	-	(4.0)
At 31 December 2025	9.2	4.1	13.3
Accumulated amortisation
At 1 January2025	(7.1)	-	(7.1)
Charge	(2.0)	-	(2.0)
Disposals	3.9	-	3.9
At 31 December 2025	(5.2)	-	(5.2)
Net book value
At 31 December 2025	4.0	4.1	8.1
At 31 December 2024	2.4	3.9	6.3

During the year, the organisation undertook a detailed review of its fixed asset register. This exercise identified IT software and website assets that are no longer providing economic benefits.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

66

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

10. Tangible assets

11. Investments

			Vehicles,	Assets in the
Group	Freehold	Leasehold	equipment	course of
	property	property	and furniture	construction Total
Cost	£m	£m	£m	£m £m
At 1 January2025	30.6	41.6	36.8	0.9 109.9
Additions	-	-	-	2.9 2.9
Transfers from assets in course of construction	0.1	1.8	0.6	(2.5) -
Disposals	(7.8)	(2.3)	(21.2)	- (31.3)
At 31 December 2025	22.9	41.1	16.2	1.3 81.5
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January2025	14.8	23.3	34.8	- 72.9
Charge	0.5	2.3	1.2	- 4.0
Disposals	(3.8)	(1.6)	(21.1)	- (26.5)
At 31 December 2025	11.5	24.0	14.9	- 50.4
Net book value
At 31 December 2025	11.4	17.1	1.3	1.3 31.1
At 31 December 2024	15.8	18.3	2.0	0.9 37.0

			Vehicles,	Assets in the
Charity	Freehold	Leasehold	equipment	course of
	property	property	and furniture	construction Total
Cost	£m	£m	£m	£m £m
At 1 January2025	26.7	41.6	36.8	0.9 106.0
Additions	-	-	-	2.9 2.9
Transfers from assets in course of construction	0.1	1.8	0.6	(2.5) -
Disposals	(7.4)	(2.3)	(21.2)	- (30.9)
At 31 December 2025	19.4	41.1	16.2	1.3 78.0
Accumulated depreciation
At 1 January2025	13.0	23.3	34.8	- 71.1
Charge	0.8	2.3	1.2	- 4.3
Disposals	(3.8)	(1.6)	(21.1)	- (26.5)
At 31 December 2025	10.0	24.0	14.9	- 48.9
Net book value
At 31 December 2025	9.4	17.1	1.3	1.3 29.1
At 31 December 2024	13.7	18.3	2.0	0.9 34.9

	Fixed asset	Current asset
	investments	investments	Total
Group and charity	£m	£m	£m
Market value at 1 January2025	87.3	35.0	122.3
Additions at cost	-	30.0	30.0
Disposals at market value	-	(20.0)	(20.0)
Exchange rate adjustment	(0.1)	-	(0.1)
Net investmentgain/(losses)in theyear	6.0	-	6.0
Market value at 31 December 2025	93.2	45.0	138.2
Cost at 31 December 2025	76.6	45.0	121.6

		Market value	Market value
	Asset	2025	2024
	class	£m	£m
Fixed asset investments
UK investments
Royal London Short Term Fixed Income Fund	Authorised fund	22.0	21.0
Aegon Ethical Corporate Bond Fund	Authorised fund	19.5	18.2
FidelitySustainable Bond	Authorised fund	18.5	17.3
Royal London Short Term Fixed Income Enhanced Fund	Authorised fund	11.2	10.6
Northern Trust ESG EquityFund	Authorised fund	10.5	9.3
Brown AdvisoryGlobal Leaders Fund	Authorised fund	9.5	8.8
PIMCO Global Investment Grade Credit ESG Fund(USD)	Authorised fund	1.3	1.4
Brown Global BVI USD Fund	Authorised fund	0.7	0.7
		93.2	87.3
Current asset investments
UK investments
Bank term deposits	Deposit	45.0	35.0
Total		138.2	122.3

During the year, the organisation undertook a detailed review of its fixed asset register. This exercise identified vehicle, equipment and furniture assets that are no longer in operational use.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

67

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

12. Investment properties

15. Cash at bank and in hand

Group and charity	2025	2024
	£000	£000
Fair value at 1 January	750	750
(Decrease)/increase in fair value	-	-
Fair value at 31 December	750	750

British Red Cross has one investment property, located at 44 Moorfields, London. The 5th and 6th floors are sub-leased to third parties and the remaining building space accommodates the national headquarters of the British Red Cross. The carrying value of the property is split into two separate elements. That part of the building which is let to third parties is included in the balance sheet at fair value, while that part which is used by the British Red Cross for operational purposes is carried in the balance sheet at cost, less accumulated depreciation, in tangible fixed assets under leasehold properties.

	2025 2024 2025	2024
	Group Group Charity	Charity
	£m £m £m	£m
Moneymarket funds	16.3 18.2 16.3	18.2
Bank short-term deposits	- 15.0 -	15.0
Bank current accounts	7.0 7.0 4.3	3.5
Total	23.3 40.2 20.6	36.7

Bank short-term deposits were lower in 2025 compared to 2024, as a greater proportion of available funds were allocated to current asset investments to maximise investment returns.

The valuation amount has been apportioned between the investment and non-investment parts of the building using the relative floor areas attributable to each element.

An independent valuation of the property was carried out as of 31 December 2023. The valuer’s opinion of fair value was primarily derived using recent comparable market transactions on arm’s length terms together with valuation techniques. The next independent valuation will be carried out as of December 2026. Therefore, there was no triennial movement in 2025 (2024: nil).

13. Stocks

13 Stk
. ocs	2025 2024 2025	2024
	Group Group Charity	Charity
	£m £m £m	£m
Medical equipment services stocks	2.0 2.9 2.0	2.9
International emergencystocks	0.2 0.2 0.2	0.2
Cards and gifts stocks	0.3 0.4 -	-
Other stocks	1.1 0.7 1.1	0.7
Total	3.6 4.2 3.3	3.8

16. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	2025 2024 2025	2024
	Group Group Charity	Charity
	£m £m £m	£m
Accruals	10.1 14.2 10.1	14.2
Deferred income	2.7 3.9 2.8	3.9
Trade creditors	2.3 2.4 2.3	2.4
Taxes and social securitycosts	2.9 2.5 2.9	2.5
Other creditors	2.3 2.0 1.4	1.8
Total	20.3 25.0 19.5	24.8

All deferred income as at 31 December 2024 was recognised during 2025 and all deferred income as at 31 December 2025 was deferred during the year. Deferred income relates to amounts received in advance of entitlement.

Gifts in kind stock of £0.8m is included in ‘other stocks’ (in 2024 this stock was £0.9m and included in medical equipment services stocks)

14. Debtors

14. Debtors	2025 2024 2025	2024
	Group Group Charity	Charity
	£m £m £m	£m
Legacies receivable	35.8 38.7 35.8	38.7
Accrued income	12.7 15.2 12.7	15.1
Trade debtors	6.2 4.2 6.2	4.2
Prepayments	5.7 5.7 5.7	5.7
Tax recoverable	3.5 3.7 3.5	3.7
Other debtors	1.4 0.9 2.1	2.3
Amounts due from subsidiaryundertaking	- 1.3	2.2
Total	65.3 68.4 67.3	71.9

The value of legacies that are estimated to be receivable > 12 months is £14.2m (2024: £14.9m). All other amounts shown under debtors fall due within one year.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

68

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

17. Provisions for liabilities and charges

		Pension scheme
	Leasehold	defcit reduction
	dilapidations	payments	Others	Total
Group and charity	£m	£m	£m	£m
At 1 January2025	1.6	0.2	-	1.8
Payments duringtheyear	(0.4)	-	-	(0.4)
Amounts released during the year	(0.1)	-	-	(0.1)
Increase/(decrease)inprovision	0.5	(0.1)	1.2	1.6
At 31 December 2025	1.6	0.1	1.2	2.9
Amounts are expected to be incurred:
- within oneyear	0.2	0.1	1.2	1.5
- beyond oneyear	1.4	-	-	1.4
	1.6	0.1	1.2	2.9

		Pension scheme
	Leasehold	defcit reduction
	dilapidations	payments	Others	Total
Group and charity	£m	£m	£m	£m
At 1 January2024	1.3	0.1	0.4	1.8
Payments duringtheyear	(0.4)	(0.1)	-	(0.5)
Increase/(decrease) in provision	0.7	0.2	(0.4)	0.5
At 31 December 2024	1.6	0.2	-	1.8
Amounts are expected to be incurred:
- within oneyear	0.2	0.2	-	0.4
- beyond oneyear	1.4	-	-	1.4
	1.6	0.2	-	1.8

Leasehold dilapidations relate to properties where the British Red Cross has a legal responsibility as tenant for such costs. The timing of payments will be in line with the exit dates from leasehold properties and the dilapidations payments are estimated based on historical payments.

As further explained in note 19, the £0.1m (2024: £0.2m) pension provision as at 31 December 2025 shown above represents the present value of contributions payable by the

British Red Cross that result from the terms of the deficit recovery plan and expense reserve in respect of the TPT Growth Plan.

18. Staff costs and trustee expenses

18. Staff costs and trustee expenses
Total staff costs(including casual staff) for theyear were as follows:	2025 £m 2024 £m
Salarycosts	115.5 114.1
National insurance costs	13.3 10.5
Pensions costs for defned contribution schemes	6.1 5.8
	134.9 130.4

Redundancy costs included in expenditure during the year were £1.6m (2024: £4.2m) with £0.7m owing as at 31 December 2025 (2024: £0.1m).

The number of employees whose total employee benefts (excluding employer pension costs)
amounted to over £60,000 in theyear were as follows:	2025 2024
£60,001 - £70,000	85 60
£70,001 - £80,000	79 44
£80,001 - £90,000	29 18
£90,001 - £100,000	20 18
£100,001-£110,000	5 4
£110,001 - £120,000	5 2
£120,001 - £130,000	1 3
£130,001 - £140,000	1 -
£140,001 - £150,000	2 3
£150,001 - £160,000	1 1
£160,001 - £170,000	1 -
£170,001 - £180,000	- 1
£180,001 - £190,000	1 1

The total amount of employee benefits received by key management personnel for their services during the year is £0.9m (2024: £1.2m).

Employee numbers 2025	2024
Fundraising 210	193
Retail 619	636
UK services 1,368	1,460
First aid services 282	282
International services 222	217
Other 537	498
Total average employed by FTE 3,238	3,286
Total average employed by headcount 4,186	4,340

As at 31 December 2025 the employee headcount stood at 4,083 (2024: 3,753)

Over 9,800 volunteers (2024: 10,200) played a crucial role in delivering our services in the UK and helping raise money to fund our activities. Services such as independent living and emergency support rely on volunteers to deliver the services to beneficiaries. Volunteers also play a large role in operating our retail shops across the UK and assist with our fundraising efforts.

Trustees’ expenses:	2025 £000 2024 £000
Expenses incurred bytrustees and reimbursed bythe British Red Cross	6 3
Expenses incurred bythe British Red Cross on behalf of trustees	16 12
Trustees' indemnityinsurance cover cost	31 32
	2025 2024
Number of trustees receivingexpenses	6 5

Trustees’ expenses are for travel and accommodation costs. None of the trustees received any remuneration during the year. 2024: £nil.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

69

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

19. Pensions

19. Pensions (continued)

New British Red Cross staff are entitled to join the British Red Cross Group Personal Pension Plan provided by Legal & General. Staff had previously been entitled to join the British Red Cross Pension Fund (“UK office scheme”), Scottish Branch British Red Cross Society Retirement Benefits Scheme (“Scottish scheme”) or The TPT Growth Plan. These three schemes are all closed to new entrants. The UK office scheme and the Scottish benefit pension schemes are in the process of being bought out.

UK office and Scottish defined benefit pension schemes

The assets of these pension schemes are held in separate trustee-administered funds. The most recent triennial actuarial valuations of the UK office scheme and the Scottish scheme were carried out as at 31 December 2022.

	UK offce	Scottish	2025	2024
	scheme	scheme	Total	Total
The amounts charged to statement of fnancial activities are:	£m	£m	£m	£m
Current service cost	-	-	-	-
Interest cost on scheme liabilities	(1.0)	(0.4)	(1.4)	(1.2)
Expected return onplan assets	1.3	0.4	1.7	1.6
Administration costs	(0.2)	-	(0.2)	(0.4)
Interest on effect of asset ceiling	(0.2)	(0.1)	(0.3)	(0.3)
Net fnance credit	(0.1)	(0.1)	(0.2)	(0.3)
Actuarial(gain)/loss	2.1	-	2.1	0.5
Movement in restriction of surplus	(2.1)	-	(2.1)	(0.5)
Net actuarial(gain)/loss recognised	-	-	-	-
On 31 March 2023, as part of the pension buyout, the UK Fund and Scottish scheme purchased bulk annuity policies with Aviva to cover the benefts payable				to members. The
surplus assets remaining after these bulk annuities were purchased continue to be invested and will	be held until the pension buyout process concludes. The current service
cost is nil because the schemes are now closed.
The latest triennial valuation for the UK offce scheme as at 31 December 2022 showed a surplus of £6.4m.
The latest triennial valuation for the Scottish scheme as at 31 December 2022 showed a surplus of £1.3m.
	UK offce	Scottish	2025	2024
	scheme	scheme	Total	Total
The amounts recognised in the balance sheet are:	£m	£m	£m	£m
Fair value of scheme assets	23.8	8.1	31.9	32.7
Present value of scheme obligations	(20.3)	(6.9)	(27.2)	(25.9)
Restriction of scheme surplus	(2.0)	(1.2)	(3.2)	(5.3)
Net surplus	1.5	-	1.5	1.5

	UK offce UK offce Scottish	Scottish
	scheme scheme scheme	scheme
	2025 2024 2025	2024
Changes inpresent value of scheme obligation during theyear:	£m £m £m	£m
At 1 January	19.0 21.3 6.9	7.7
Service cost	2.3 - -	-
Interest cost	1.0 0.9 0.4	0.4
Member contributions	- - -	-
Beneftspaid	(1.8) (1.1) (0.3)	(0.4)
Actuarial(gain)/ loss due to changes in assumptions	(0.2) (2.0) (0.1)	-
Actuarial(gain)/ loss due to experience on liabilities	- (0.1) -	(0.8)
At 31 December	20.3 19.0 6.9	6.9
	UK offce UK offce Scottish	Scottish
	scheme scheme scheme	scheme
	2025 2024 2025	2024
Change in the value ofplan assets during theyear:	£m £m £m	£m
At 1 January	24.6 27.2 8.1	9.1
Interest on assets	1.3 1.2 0.4	0.4
Employer contributions	- - -	-
Member contributions	- - -	-
Beneftspaid	(1.8) (1.1) (0.3)	(0.4)
Administration costs	(0.3) (0.3) -	(0.1)
Actuarial(loss)/gain onplan assets	- (2.4) (0.1)	(0.9)
At 31 December	23.8 24.6 8.1	8.1

Under FRS 102, a surplus can be recognised if the British Red Cross can expect to benefit from a refund of the surplus. The surplus recognised in the balance sheet as at 31 December 2025 represents the British Red Cross’s estimate of the amount that might be returned, following the purchase of bulk annuity policies during 2023. However, the extent of any surplus and how much of this might be returned to the British Red Cross will not be confirmed until the pension buyout process is complete.

An ‘asset ceiling’ of £1.5m above the liabilities is based on the best estimate of the refund of surplus on an eventual wind-up. As the wind-up progresses, the estimate could change for a variety of reasons. These could include changes in the value of the scheme assets or the present value of the scheme obligations based on market conditions, the pension trustees’ decision on how the surplus is used to improve the pension members’ benefits and other risk factors like the courts ruling on the Virgin Media case.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

70

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

19. Pensions (continued)

19. Pensions (continued)
The major categories ofplan assets as apercentage of totalplan assets are:	UK offce scheme 2025 UK offce scheme 2024 Scottish scheme 2025		Scottish scheme 2024
Insured assets	78%	77% 85%	85%
Gilts	8%	10% 0%	8%
Bonds	4%	4% 0%	3%
Cash	10%	9% 15%	4%
	100%	100% 100%	100%
	UK offce scheme 2025 £m UK offce scheme 2024 £m Scottish scheme 2025 £m		Scottish scheme 2024 £m
Actual return onplan assets in theyear	1.3	(1.3) 0.3	(0.5)
Principal actuarial assumptions at the balance sheet date in respect of both schemes were:		2025	2024
Discount rate		5.3%	5.4%
Consumerprice infation(CPI)		2.7%	3.0%
Salary increases		N/A	N/A
UK offce schemepension increases
– capped at 5.0%		2.6%	2.9%
– capped at 2.5%		2.0%	2.1%
Scottish schemepension increases
–pension increase(CPI capped at 5%pa)		2.6%	2.9%
–pension increase(CPI capped at 2.5%pa)		2.0%	2.1%
		2025	2024
Mortality assumptions in respect of both schemes adopted at theyear end imply the following life expectancy at 65:		Years	Years
Pensioners: male		22.7	22.3
Pensioners: female		25.0	24.8
Non-pensioners: male		24.0	23.6
Non-pensioners: female		26.4	26.2

20. Obligations under operating leases

20. Obligations under operating leases
			2025			2024
Total future minimum lease payments under	Property	Other	Total	Property	Other	Total
non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
Within oneyear	4.2	0.8	5.0	4.0	0.8	4.8
In two to fveyears After fve years	6.2 3.6	1.2 -	7.4 3.6	6.5 3.7	1.5 -	8.0 3.7
Total	14.0	2.0	16.0	14.2	2.3	16.5

Operating lease charges during 2025 were £6.5m for property leases (2024: £6.9m) and £1.0m for other leases (2024: £1.1m).

21. Related parties

There were no transactions with related parties during the year (2024: nil).

Trustees and other related parties, including key management personnel, made donations to the British Red Cross totalling £1,350 during the year (2024: £148,354).

22. Capital commitments

There were £0.9m of capital commitments at 31 December 2025 (2024: £0.4m).

Other pension schemes

The British Red Cross also contributes to the British Red Cross Group Personal Pension Plan for employees. In 2025 the total cost of these contributions was £6.1m (2024: £7.9m) and the balance outstanding at 31 December 2025 was £0.7m (2024: £0.6m).

Staff were able to join the TPT Growth Plan (‘the Growth Plan’) until April 2007. The Growth Plan is a multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are co-mingled for investment purposes and as a result it is not possible to either break down scheme assets or analyse the ongoing funding deficit by individual employer. Accordingly, due to the nature of the plan, the accounting charge for the year under FRS 102 represents only the employer contributions payable.

There is a contingent liability in the event that the British Red Cross were to withdraw its membership of the Growth Plan. The scheme’s actuaries valued the withdrawal liability at £1.2m as at 30 September 2024.

There is a potential liability for an employer such as the British Red Cross participating in the scheme in the event of employers ceasing to participate in the Growth Plan or the scheme winding up. There is also a potential liability where other participating employers are unable to pay their debts relating to the Growth Plan.

The results of the Growth Plan scheme valuation as at 30 September 2023 show a deficit of £16.1m. A deficit recovery plan aims to eliminate the funding deficit by March 2028. The additional employer contributions required from the British Red Cross as part of this recovery plan are £0.1m per annum. In line with the requirements of the SORP and FRS 102, the present value of contributions payable under the terms of this recovery plan must be recognised as a liability and this is detailed in note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Accounts

71

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

23. Programme commitments

23. Programme commitments (continued)

The British Red Cross regularly pledges support to programmes led by the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or other National Societies. In addition to the expenditure recognised in the financial statements, the British Red Cross had outstanding pledges to the programmes disclosed below. Full payment of the pledges is contingent on the outcome of British Red Cross reviews of the programmes and therefore the liability has not been recognised at the year end. The commitments will be funded through general funds, restricted appeal income or restricted funding from individual and institutional donors.

		2025	2024
	End date	£m	£m
SupportingTransition,Recovery,Inclusion & Vocational Empowerment(STRIVE)- TRC	2029	15.9	-
Madagascar Preparedness and Resilience Grant to IFRC	2027	4.7	6.5
FCDO Contribution to DREF 2024-2026	2026	2.7	-
FCDO Afghanistan SHAPE Programme 2024-2026	2026	2.6	-
Syrian Arab Red Cresent Livelihood Support to Vulnerable Communities	2025	2.4	-
FCDO Contribution to Pakistan Red Crescent SocietyEmergencyAppeal 2025	2026	2.3	-
FCDO Ukraine Humanitarian Response and EarlyRecovery2025-2026	2026	2.1	-
SupportingTransition,Recovery,Inclusion & Vocational Empowerment(STRIVE)- IFRC	2029	1.9	-
Pakistan Humanitarian Empowerment Programme	2027	1.7	-
Bilateral Migration and Displacement and National SocietyDevelopment Support to RRC	2027	1.6	1.9
Multilateral Migration and Displacement and National SocietyDevelopment Support to Palestine Red Cresent via IFRC	2026	1.1	1.1
Nature Pulse	2027	1.0	-
Multilateral Migration and Displacement and National SocietyDevelopment Support to MRCS via IFRC	2026	1.0	1.0
DEC Myanmar Earthquake Phase 2 Pledge to Norwegian Red Cross	2027	0.8	-
Risk Informed EarlyAction Partnership2,Jul 2023 - Dec 2025	2025	0.7	1.1
Ukraine Humanitarian Response and EarlyRecovery2025-2026	2026	0.7	-
IFRC Morocco: SupportingCash for Shelter,MRCS CVAP,and PGI	2026	0.7	-
BRC Support to Syrian Arab Red Crescent 2024-25	2025	0.6	0.7
Contribution to IFRC Disaster Response EmergencyFund	2026	0.5	-
FCDO ACAPS Ukraine Analysis Hub 2025-2026	2026	0.5	-
ECOLAB - Natural Resources Conservation Service	2028	0.3	0.7
Climate Nature Based Solutions with Resilient Livelihood in Nepal	2026	0.3	-
DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal - Support to Pakistan Red Crescent Society	2026	0.3	-
Red Cross of Chad Population Movement from Sudan	2026	0.3	-
ECOLAB - National Trust for Nature Conservation	2028	0.2	0.3
BRC Syria delegation in-countrycosts	2025	0.2	0.1
FCDO Support to Lebanese Red Cross Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management	2028	0.2	-
Bangladesh LocallyLed Response 2025-2028	2028	0.2	-
Kenya - Nature Based Solutions for the Future	2026	0.1	0.3
Kenya and Uganda HandwashingFacilities - IFRC	2025	0.1	0.2
BRC Support to Syrian Arab Red Cresent 2022-23	2024	0.1	-
SafeguardingInitiative with Nepal Red Cross	2028	0.1	-
DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Support to Syrian Arab Red Cresent	2025	0.1	-
CARA Flexible Fund Project(Viet Nam)	2026	0.1	-
Phase 2 Libya Protection Programme	2024	0.1	-
New Ways of WorkingContribution IFRC	2026	0.1	-
Vouchers for Health Hajjah Pilot	2026	0.1	-
Multiyear Support to Lebanese Red Cross	2026	0.1	-
Danish Red Cross: StrengtheningInstitutional Capacityand Governance of AnticipatoryAction Initiatives in Nepal’s Government	2026	0.1	-
DEC Phase 2 Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Support to IFRC Türkiye	2025	-	4.2
FCDO Contribution to Ukrainian Red Cross SocietyOne Plan 2023-2025	2024	-	2.8
Contribution to NorCross Project: Improved Access for Healthcare and Essential Needs	2025	-	1.6
Bilateral Support to Ukrainian Red Cross Society- 2024	2024	-	1.2
EnhancingHumanitarian Diplomacyin Europe Region	2026	-	1.1
2022-2023 German Red Cross - Yemen Red Crescent PrimaryHealth Centres and EmergencyObstetric Care(Hajjah,Al Dhale)	2024	-	0.5
World Food Programme WISER MENA	2025	-	0.5
BRC Support to ICRC Ukraine Appeal 2024 Earmarked to Health	2024	-	0.5
BRC Support to V2R Cox’s Bazar	2024	-	0.5
Lebanese Red Cross-ICRC-BRC Tripartite Phase 3 2024-25	2025	-	0.4
RestoringFamilyLinks Support to Ukrainian Red Cross Society	2026	-	0.4
DEC Phase2b Funds to IFRC Romania	2025	-	0.4
IFRC WISER MENA	2025	-	0.4
BRC Support to Climate Change Adaptation Project in Narayanganj	2025	-	0.3
Lebanon Livelihoods Flagship21-22	2023	-	0.3
Branch and Volunteer Development	2024	-	0.3
Transfer of Core Fundingfrom FCDO to the IFRC for 2024	2024	-	0.2
Chad Population Movement from Sudan(Chad RC)	2025	-	0.2

	End date	2025 £m 2024 £m
International Red Cross Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness - Weather and Climate Information Services MENA	2025	- 0.2
Danish Red Cross - Yemen Red Crescent PrimaryHealth Centres - 2023	2024	- 0.1
Nepal Flood and Landslide Response 2024	2025	- 0.1
Enhanced CSO Participation and Engagement in the Localisation of EarlyWarningSystems(EWS)	2025	- 0.1
Kenya and Uganda HandwashingFacilities - African Population and Health Research Centre	2025	- 0.1
Risk Informed EarlyAction Partnership1,Dec 2019-Mar 2023	2023	- 0.1
BRC support to Syrian Arab Red Crescent 2022-23	2024	- 0.1
Towards More Inclusive EarlyWarningfor the “Last Mile”: GDPC Research Grants Program	2025	- 0.1
Winterisation Support to Ukrainian Red Cross Society	2024	- 0.1
Bangladesh Comprehensive National SocietyDevelopment National SocietyDevelopment Program	2025	- 0.1
ManagingNarratives in the Humanitarian Response to the Confict in Ukraine	2024	- 0.1
Libya Floods Response - Contribution to IFRC	2024	- 0.1
Cyclone Remal Disaster Response	2025	- 0.1
EnablingActions for CommunityHealth(EACH)	2025	- 0.1
Climate Nature Based Solutions with Resilient Livelihood in Nepal	2025	- 0.1
IFRC Africa Regional Grant	2024	- 0.1
Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre MoU 2023-2025	2024	- 0.1
Total		48.6 31.5

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

72

Accounts

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025

24. Analysis of net assets between funds

24. Analysis of net assets between funds
	Unrestricted	Restricted	2025 Total
Group	£m	£m	£m
Tangible assets	28.5	2.6	31.1
Intangible assets	8.1	-	8.1
Fixed asset investments	-	93.2	93.2
Investmentproperties	0.8	-	0.8
Net current assets	68.0	48.9	116.9
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(2.8)	(0.1)	(2.9)
Defned beneftpension scheme surplus	1.5	-	1.5
Net assets	104.1	144.6	248.7

	Unrestricted	Restricted	2025 Total
Charity	£m	£m	£m
Tangible assets	28.5	0.6	29.1
Intangible assets	8.1	-	8.1
Fixed asset investments	-	93.2	93.2
Investmentproperties	0.8	-	0.8
Net current assets	68.0	48.7	116.7
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(2.8)	(0.1)	(2.9)
Defned beneftpension scheme surplus	1.5	-	1.5
Net assets	104.1	142.4	246.5

25. Grant acknowledgements

The National Lottery Community Fund, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Welsh Government Fund and the City Bridge Foundation Fund provided grants for the following projects:

	Balance 1			Balance 31
	January 2025	Income	Expenditure	December 2025
Purpose ofgrant	£000	£000	£000	£000
National Lottery Community Fund Grants
Strategic Dispacement Migration Project	2	-	(2)	-
National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant
Our Stories – Our Time	5	-	(4)	1
ImprovingPublic Access to Humanitarian Heritage Collections	9	-	(4)	5
Welsh Government Fund Grant
Pan Wales FamilyReunion Service	97	293	(291)	99
City Bridge Foundation Fund Grant
CityBridge	17	63	(70)	10

Balances as at 31 December 2025 are included within our restricted funds.

26. Post balance sheet event

	Unrestricted	Restricted	2024 Total
Group	£m	£m	£m
Tangible assets	34.2	2.8	37.0
Intangible assets	6.3	-	6.3
Fixed asset investments	-	87.3	87.3
Investmentproperties	0.8	-	0.8
Net current assets	66.2	56.6	122.8
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(1.8)	-	(1.8)
Defned beneftpension scheme surplus	1.5	-	1.5
Net assets	107.2	146.7	253.9
	Unrestricted	Restricted	2024 Total
Charity	£m	£m	£m
Tangible assets	34.2	0.7	34.9
Intangible assets	6.3	-	6.3
Fixed asset investments	-	87.3	87.3
Investmentproperties	0.8	-	0.8
Net current assets	67.0	55.6	122.6
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(1.8)	-	(1.8)
Defned beneftpension scheme surplus	1.5	-	1.5
Net assets	108.0	143.6	251.6

Subsequent to the reporting date, in April 2026, the trustees of the British Red Cross agreed to trigger the wind-up of the Scottish Pension Scheme.

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

73

Accounts

Patron

His Majesty The King

President

Formerly, His Majesty The King (2003 - 2025)

Deputy president

Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy KG GCVO

Honorary vice-presidents

Sylvia, Countess of Limerick CBE Professor John McClure OBE Mrs Elspeth Thomas CBE DL Sir Nicholas Young

Vice-presidents

Mr Anthony Andrews Ms Angela Rippon CBE Mrs Maria Shammas MBE

Board of trustees

Mrs Elizabeth Padmore, chair (retired 13 February 2026) Ms Louise Halpin, vice-chair Mr Mark Beddy OBE, chair of finance and audit committee Mr Yaseer Ahmed

Mr Howard Bell

Mrs Helen Bennett (appointed 1 January 2026) Mr Carl Cowling Mr Dennis Dunn MBE JP DL Sir John Holmes Mr Alan House Ms Katie Igras Miss Gabrielle Inglis (appointed 1 January 2026) Mr Lewis Iwu (retired 31 December 2025) Professor Geeta Nargund (retired 31 December 2025) Mrs Kirsty Robeson

Board sub-committees include

Donations acceptance committee Emblem committee Finance and audit committee Investment working group Movement working group People committee Risk and assurance committee

Executive leadership team

Béatrice Butsana-Sita, chief executive

Paul Amadi MBE, executive director marketing, fundraising and communications (to 24 December 2025) Richard Blewitt, executive director international Dorothy Brown, chief operating officer Lisa Hollins, executive director UK Clive MacTavish, chief finance officer Eve Riddle, interim executive director marketing, fundraising and communications (from 1 December 2025)

External auditor

Crowe U.K. LLP, Statutory Auditor 55 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7JW

Bankers National Westminster Bank plc, 250 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4AA

Legal advisers Withers, 20 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7AN

Investment managers Aegon Asset Management, 3 Lochside Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9SA Royal London Asset Management, 55 Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 0RL

Fidelity International, Beech Gate, Millfield Lane, Surrey KT20 6RP

Northern Trust Asset Management, George’s Court, 54-62 Townsend Street, Dublin 2 D02 R156

Brown Advisory Ltd, 18 Hanover Square, 1st Floor, London W1S 1JY

PIMCO, 11 Baker Street, London W1U 3AH

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

Thank you

74

Thank you

We would like to thank every individual and organisation who supported our work in 2025. Once again, you showed incredible compassion and kindness.

We would like to give special thanks to:

AstraZeneca

Thanks also to Disaster Relief Alliance members:

BA Better World Community Fund

Barbour Foundation

Benefact Trust and Benefact Group City Bridge Foundation Currys Plc Delta Air Lines

Elrha

EU PEACE

Guernsey Overseas Aid & Development Commission Haymarket Media Group

HSBC ICG (Intermediate Capital Group) Isle of Man Government Jersey Overseas Aid Lewis Hamilton Linklaters

Lise Abraham

Lord Glendonbrook on behalf of the Michael Bishop Foundation M&G Ltd

Manolo Blahnik Foundation

Montpelier Foundation

MS Amlin

National Lottery Community Fund England Pamela Mary Curtis Paul Hamlyn Foundation Paula Hawkins Pears Foundation

Funds raised by players of the Postcode Lottery and awarded through Postcode International Trust

Premier Foods RBC Foundation Revolut

Aviva Barclays Defender Haleon John Lewis Partnership Reckitt The TK Maxx and Homesense Foundation Wimbledon Foundation

Robin Kinross and Nicolette Moonen Rolex

RSM UK Foundation Scottish Government ShareGift Squarepoint Foundation Standard Chartered Bank Stelios Philanthropic Foundation Swire Charitable Trust Taith Tesco

The All England Lawn Tennis Club The Constance Travis Charitable Trust The Fidelis Foundation The Forrester Family Trust The Tolkien Trust UK Government Underwood Trust Wellcome Trust Welsh Government

Photo © Marco Kesseler / British Red Cross

British Red Cross emergency response volunteers Claire, Elden and Kate, in Cornwall after Storm Goretti.

Get involved

British Red Cross Annual report and accounts 2025

75

Get involved

Are you part of our growing Movement?

Get connected to people who need your skill, care and support.

Volunteering

However much time you have and whatever your experience, there are UK volunteering opportunities at the British Red Cross. Not only will you enjoy a truly rewarding experience and gain new skills, but you’ll also be there to provide vital support to people in your community when they need it most.

Find out more at redcross.org.uk/volunteer

Youth volunteers

You can volunteer in many of our services from the age of 15. There are opportunities to gain new skills, boost your CV and confidence, achieve certification for your time and learn more about how charities work. No matter how much time you have or whatever your experience, there’s a role to suit everyone, including online roles.

Make a difference to people’s lives on a volunteer placement or, if you’re aged between 15 and 18, apply for one of our work experience placements from marketing to HR or finance.

If you are at university, you can get involved in the British Red Cross on Campus scheme to fundraise and raise awareness. For those aged between 18 and 30, and based in Wales, join our international youth volunteering programme and experience a different culture while helping people in crisis.

- - - - redcross.org.uk/get involved/opportunities for young people

Fundraising

Sign up to a challenge event with us, like a walk or hike, or take part in a Pour a Cup of Kindness tea party with your school, work, or community group. Every step you take and pound you raise will help someone in need.

Education resources

Our free online resources for educators and parents have been developed to help inspire the next generation of humanitarians. Our resources, based around first aid, climate, kindness, empathy and topical events, are designed to build resilience, awareness and critical thinking among 5- to 18-year-olds.

Prepare yourself to act in first aid emergencies. We have many free resources to help build your skills and confidence, including our first aid mobile app, online or face-to-face workshops and our suite of step-bystep training videos on YouTube.

- - resources redcross.org.uk/get involved/teaching

Leave a gift in your will

We receive around 1,000 gifts in wills each year from generous supporters who want to leave a gift that’s never forgotten. For over 150 years, we’ve run towards disaster, going where we’re needed most, when we’re needed most. Gifts in wills ensure that, whatever happens in the future, we’ll be there when disaster strikes. We’ll be the hand reaching through the rubble. The friendly face, offering shelter from the flood. The symbol of hope in people’s worst moments. These moments of humanity amid chaos are never forgotten.

redcross.org.uk/legacy Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Our shops

We sell pre-loved fashion, furniture, books and more to help fund our life-changing work in the UK and abroad. You can support us by shopping in store, on our online shop, and via our eBay store; donating items to our shops in person or by post; or by volunteering with us.

Find out more at: redcross.org.uk/shop

Collaborate for change

Support from business, government, philanthropists, trusts and foundations makes a lasting impact on the lives of people in crisis, both in the UK and around the world.

We believe in building meaningful partnerships based on a shared vision, allowing us to extend our reach and make an even greater difference – together.

Our dedicated teams are here to collaborate and develop ideas with you that make the most of your time and investment. If you’re interested in joining us to make a difference to the lives of people in crisis, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today.

Corporate partnerships: [e-mail] Institutional partnerships: [e-mail] Philanthropists (individuals, trusts and foundations): [e-mail]

Donate

It’s the generosity of our supporters that enables our work to happen quickly and efficiently. We rely on your support to keep us going. A donation or a regular gift means we can support people facing crisis, in whatever form that takes. It provides essentials like food, medicine and clothing to those in need and means we are ready to help wherever that need is greatest. With your help, we’ll continue to be here for humanity. Whether it’s before, during or after a crisis, we’re here for people in the UK and 190 other countries. Together, we are the world’s emergency responders.

redcross.org.uk/donate Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

redcross.org.uk/events

The British Red Cross Society, incorporated by Royal Charter 1908, is a charity registered in England and Wales (220949), Scotland (SC037738), Isle of Man (0752) and Jersey (430).

Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail]