Common questions about Army Benevolent Fund's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Army Benevolent Fund a good charity? +
Army Benevolent Fund scores 60 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 57% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are up to date. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.
Is Army Benevolent Fund a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Army Benevolent Fund as a registered charity (charity number 1146420). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1146420&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.
What is Army Benevolent Fund's charity number? +
Army Benevolent Fund's charity number is 1146420. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.
What is Army Benevolent Fund's charity rating? +
Army Benevolent Fund scores 60 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.
Does Army Benevolent Fund have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Army Benevolent Fund. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (3 red flags on this profile: high fundraising costs; sharp income decline; very high reserves). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches Army Benevolent Fund? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 57% of Army Benevolent Fund's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.
What are Army Benevolent Fund's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 43% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 44% of expenditure (2024–2026, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Army Benevolent Fund. Army Benevolent Fund's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2026 reports 13 employees paid more than £60,000, including 3 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (1 employee). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does Army Benevolent Fund receive? +
Army Benevolent Fund reported £14m total income in its 2026 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Army Benevolent Fund's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-08-03). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Army Benevolent Fund based? +
Army Benevolent Fund's registered contact address is in London (SW1W 9RB). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, with a focus on armed forces.
How much is Army Benevolent Fund's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Army Benevolent Fund's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2026 reports 13 employees paid more than £60,000, including 3 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (1 employee). Charities normally disclose the chief executive's pay, or the pay of their highest-paid staff, in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report and accounts.
Where does Army Benevolent Fund's money come from? +
Army Benevolent Fund reported £14m total income for the year ending 31 March 2026. The largest sources were donations and legacies £7.8m (57%), trading and fundraising events £3.3m (24%), investments £2.6m (19%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £2.5m.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Army Benevolent Fund? +
The register records Army Benevolent Fund as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.
Are Army Benevolent Fund's trustees paid? +
Army Benevolent Fund's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2026 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was Army Benevolent Fund previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Army Benevolent Fund: Abf the Soldiers' Charity.
When was Army Benevolent Fund registered as a charity? +
Army Benevolent Fund was entered on the register on 15 March 2012. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 07974609).
How does CharityCompare score Army Benevolent Fund? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Army Benevolent Fund's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.
How often is this page updated? +
This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Army Benevolent Fund's most recent accounts cover 2026. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.