Armed forces · Reg 214779
The Salvation Army
Charity rating & review
62/100 Clarity Score · 3 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score
Clarity score
Needs improvement
Quick answer
Is The Salvation Army a good charity?
The Salvation Army scores 62/100 (3 stars, Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£338m total income, 58% of spending on charitable activities). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown.
Donate
How can you give to THE SALVATION ARMY?
You leave CharityCompare to complete a donation on the official THE SALVATION ARMY form. We do not process payments or take commission. Opens their official online donation form.
What does The Salvation Army do?
The Salvation Army is a registered charity (no. 214779) working in armed forces across the United Kingdom. Its latest Charity Commission filing directs 58% of spending to charitable activities, holding roughly 3 months of reserves, though its recent accounts were filed late. Reported income has been growing (≈9% a year). CharityCompare's Clarity Score rates the organisation only from public Charity Commission accounts — accountability, financial health, efficiency and community support — not the quality or impact of its programmes.
Summarised from public filings — The Salvation Army hasn't added its own description yet. Work here? Add it free →
In short: THE SALVATION ARMY scores 62 out of 100 (3 stars). 58% average program spend (3-year average). Review the pillar breakdown below.
What is The Salvation Army?
The Salvation Army has a Clarity Score of 62 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars, Needs improvement). Charity Commission registration number 214779. Status: Registered. Primary cause area: Armed forces. Latest accounts year 2025: total income £338m, with 58% of expenditure on charitable activities. Accounts filing: late. Reserves: approximately 3 months of operating costs. 3 filing concern(s) noted on this profile. Scores are independent and based on official filings — not a donation recommendation.
Data from Charity Commission register, last updated .
Overall score
62/100
3★ · Needs improvement
Cause spend
58%
3-yr avg · charitable activities
Accountability
50/100
Finance beacon
Income
£338m
Latest year 2025
Reserves
3 mo
Months of running costs
Accounts filing
Late
Check register
£2.4 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) · 43% overhead · Website on register · Confidence: medium
How does THE SALVATION ARMY compare?
Clarity Score percentile against similar UK charities — the share of peers THE SALVATION ARMY scores higher than.
Scores higher than 11% of 943 charities in its income band · 62/100 vs 77 peer average (marker).
Scores higher than 21% of 84 charities in this cause · 62/100 vs 74 peer average (marker).
How reliable is The Salvation Army's data?
- Source
- Charity Commission (England & Wales)
- Accounts year
- 2025
- Filing date
- Profile reviewed
Medium confidence — some data missing or late
Scores reflect the latest annual accounts on the register. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Open Government Licence v3.0 .
What is The Salvation Army's Beacon report?
Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report.
Accountability & Transparency
Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.
50/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Filing history (5 years) 100% on-time over five years = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more = 0 pts. | 33% | 5/15 pts |
| Trustee oversight Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three). | 33% | 1 trustee · 5/15 pts |
| Declared policies Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return. | 100% | 10/10 pts |
Financial Health
Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.
100/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Reserves (months of cash) 3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years (hoarding) = 0 pts. | 100% | 3 months · 15/15 pts |
| Income stability / growth +20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 10/10 pts · 3-year average |
| Liabilities to assets 0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt. | 100% | 5% · 5/5 pts |
Financial Efficiency
How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.
10/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Program expense ratio 90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below. | 20% | 58% · 2/10 pts (3-year average) |
| Fundraising efficiency ≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income). | 0% | 41p per £1 income · 0/10 pts (3-year average) |
Community Support
Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.
100/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteer-to-staff ratio Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 10,850 volunteers / 1610 staff · 10/10 pts |
What is The Salvation Army's Clarity Score?
62/100 total · Needs improvement · 3 of 5 stars
Four pillars (40 + 30 + 20 + 10 points) from Charity Commission filings — see methodology for full weightings.
Accountability & Transparency
Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.
50/100
Financial Health
Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.
100/100
Financial Efficiency
How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.
10/100
Community Support
Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.
100/100
How much does The Salvation Army raise and spend?
Latest filed year 2025 · Source: Charity Commission filings
| Category | Amount | % of spend |
|---|---|---|
| Total income | £338m | — |
| Total expenditure | £332m | — |
| Charitable activities | £186m | 56% |
| Fundraising | £146m | 44% |
| Governance & admin | £1.0m | 0% |
Where does the money go?
Latest accounts (2025) · £332m spent
- Charitable activities56% · £186m
- Fundraising44% · £146m
- Governance0% · £1.0m
What trust indicators does The Salvation Army have?
Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported.
-
Accounts filed on time
Filing status: late
-
Trustee board size (3–12)
1 trustees on the Charity Commission register
-
Workforce on register
1610 employees · 10,850 volunteers (7:1 volunteer-to-staff)
Fundraising Regulator
Not listed as member
Separate from our financial scores — shows whether the charity follows the Code of Fundraising Practice.
Check Fundraising Regulator →Official register
Reg 214779
Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.
View on Charity Commission →Trustees & officers
- THE SALVATION ARMY TRUSTEE COMPANY since 1980
How we score charities +
The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.
Accountability & Transparency
Scored from filings
40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).
Financial Health
Scored from filings
30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).
Financial Efficiency
Scored from filings
20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).
Community Support
Scored from filings
10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.
Overall score
Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.
How have The Salvation Army's finances changed over five years?
- Income
- Spending
- Cause spend
Values in £ thousands · Cause spend plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission accounts
What are the key facts about The Salvation Army?
- Overall score
- 62/100 (3★)
- Income
- £338m
- Cause spend
- 58% of expenditure
- Reg number
- 214779
- Scope
- UK-wide
- Reserves
- 3 months
- Trustees
- 1
- Accounts year
- 2025
- Filing
- late
How does THE SALVATION ARMY compare, and where else can you look?
Where THE SALVATION ARMY sits
The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.
Similar armed forces charities
Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score
- ROYAL NAVAL SAILING ASSOCIATION 99/100 · £782k
- THE ROYAL AIR FORCES ASSOCIATION - CORPORATE BODY 98/100 · £22m
- ARMY FLYING MUSEUM LIMITED 96/100 · £1.3m
- CARE OF POLICE SURVIVORS 93/100 · £661k
How can you share The Salvation Army's rating?
Opens a printer-friendly view of this profile for The Salvation Army.
For this charity
How do you add The Salvation Army's rating to your site?
Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our methodology.
What red flags does The Salvation Army have?
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about The Salvation Army's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is The Salvation Army a good charity? +
The Salvation Army scores 62 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 58% of its spending goes to charitable activities and its accounts are late. 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 The Salvation Army a legitimate charity? +
Yes — The Salvation Army is a legitimate registered charity (charity number 214779). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/214779. Registration proves status; Clarity Score then summarises filing transparency on paper, not programme impact.
What is The Salvation Army's charity number? +
The Salvation Army's charity number is 214779. 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 The Salvation Army's charity rating? +
The Salvation Army scores 62 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). The Clarity Score V1 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 The Salvation Army have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Salvation Army. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (3 filing concern(s) noted on this profile). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches The Salvation Army? +
According to its 2025 regulator filing, 58% of The Salvation Army'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 The Salvation Army's overheads? +
According to its 2025 regulator filing, fundraising costs were about 42% of total expenditure and combined overheads (fundraising plus governance) were about 43% of total expenditure at The Salvation Army. The filings CharityCompare uses do not publish CEO or senior-staff pay, so we cannot say what The Salvation Army's chief executive is paid — where disclosure rules apply, senior pay appears in the trustees' annual report on the Charity Commission register.
How much income does The Salvation Army receive? +
The Salvation Army reported £338m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are The Salvation Army's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: late (last filing 2026-06-24). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is The Salvation Army based? +
The Salvation Army is listed at London · UK-wide · SE5 8FJ and operates UK-wide, focused on armed forces.
How does CharityCompare score The Salvation Army? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Salvation Army'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 17 July 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and The Salvation Army's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.