---
title: "The St. John and Red Cross Defence… rating | CharityCompare"
description: "The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service scores 77/100 (Good). Latest accounts 2025: income £4.2m. Reg 1087210."
source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/the-st-john-and-red-cross-defence-medical-welfare-service
retrieved: 2026-08-18T01:37:55.131Z
license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0"
---

Quick answer

## Is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service a good charity?

The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service scores 77/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£4.2m total income, 100% 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.

Salisbury · UK-wide · SP11 9AQ |
Reg [1087210](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/the-st-john-and-red-cross-defence-medical-welfare-service) | Registered charity | [Official website](https://www.dmws.org.uk/) | [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1087210)

Donate

## How can you give to THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE?

You leave CharityCompare to complete a donation on the official THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE form. We do not process payments or take commission. Opens their official online donation form.

[Donate](https://www.dmws.org.uk/?utm_source=charitycompare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate&utm_content=1087210)

## What does The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service do?

The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service is a registered charity (no. 1087210) working in armed forces across the United Kingdom. Its latest Charity Commission filing directs 100% of spending to charitable activities, holding roughly 4 months of reserves, though its recent accounts were filed late. Reported income has been growing (≈25% 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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service hasn't added its own description yet. [Work here? Add it free →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/claim?charity=the-st-john-and-red-cross-defence-medical-welfare-service)

**In short:** THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE scores 77 out of 100 (4 stars). 100% average program spend (3-year average). Review the pillar breakdown below.

## What is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service?

The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service has a Clarity Score of 77 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars, Good). Charity Commission registration number 1087210. Status: Registered. Primary cause area: Armed forces. Latest accounts year 2025: total income £4.2m, with 100% of expenditure on charitable activities. Accounts filing: late. Reserves: approximately 4 months of operating costs. 1 filing concern(s) noted on this profile. Scores are independent and based on official filings — not a donation recommendation.

Data from [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), last updated 17 July 2026.

Overall score

77/100

4★ · Good

Cause spend

100%

3-yr avg · charitable activities

Accountability

75/100

Finance beacon

Income

£4.2m

Latest year 2025

Reserves

4 mo

Months of running costs

Accounts filing

Late

Check register

Fundraising efficiency not stated ·
2% overhead · Website on register ·
Confidence: medium

## How does THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE compare?

Clarity Score percentile against similar UK charities — the share of peers THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE scores higher than.

Income band (£1m–£5m)43rdpercentile

**Scores higher than 43% of 2,776 charities in its income band** · 77/100 vs 78 peer average (marker).

Armed forces charities56thpercentile

**Scores higher than 56% of 84 charities in this cause** · 77/100 vs 74 peer average (marker).

## How reliable is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's data?

Source

Charity Commission (England & Wales)

Accounts year

2025

Filing date

24 June 2026

Profile reviewed

17 July 2026

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](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/),
[Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator](https://www.oscr.org.uk/) and
[Charity Commission for Northern Ireland](https://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk/).
[Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/).

## What is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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.

75/100
| 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). | 100% | 7 trustees · 15/15 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.

90/100
| 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% | 4 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. | 40% | 40% · 2/5 pts |

### Financial Efficiency

How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.

100/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Program expense ratio 90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below. | 100% | 100% · 10/10 pts (3-year average) |
| Fundraising efficiency ≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income). | 100% | 0p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) |

### Community Support

Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.

0/100
| Metric | Score | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Volunteer-to-staff ratio Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between. | 0% | Not reported · 0/10 pts |

[How we calculate beacon scores →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology)

## What is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's Clarity Score?

77/100 total · Good · 4 of 5 stars

Four pillars (40 + 30 + 20 + 10 points) from Charity Commission filings — see methodology for full weightings.

75/100

Accountability & Transparency

90/100

Financial Health

100/100

Financial Efficiency

0/100

Community Support

### Accountability & Transparency

Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.

75/100

Filing history (5 years)5/15 pts

Trustee oversight7 trustees · 15/15 pts

Declared policies10/10 pts

### Financial Health

Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.

90/100

Reserves (months of cash)4 months · 15/15 pts

Income stability / growth10/10 pts · 3-year average

Liabilities to assets40% · 2/5 pts

### Financial Efficiency

How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.

100/100

Program expense ratio100% · 10/10 pts (3-year average)

Fundraising efficiency0p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average)

### Community Support

Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.

0/100

Volunteer-to-staff ratioNot reported · 0/10 pts

## How much does The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service raise and spend?

Latest filed year 2025 · Source: Charity Commission filings
| Category | Amount | % of spend |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Total income | £4.2m | — |
| Total expenditure | £3.8m | — |
| Charitable activities | £3.8m | 100% |
| Governance & admin | £53k | 1% |

100%On charitable activities

## Where does the money go?

Latest accounts (2025) · £3.8m spent

- Charitable activities100% · £3.8m
- Governance1% · £53k

## What trust indicators does The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service 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)

7 trustees on the Charity Commission register

Fundraising Regulator

Status not yet checked

Separate from our financial scores — shows whether the charity follows the Code of Fundraising Practice.

[Check Fundraising Regulator →](https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/members/)

Official register

Reg 1087210

Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.

[View on Charity Commission →](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1087210)

### Trustees & officers

- Andrew Buckham since 2013
- James Macnamara since 2017
- PAUL TAYLOR since 2017
- jocelyn Lynch since 2020
- Teresa Griffiths since 2023
- MICHAEL TREVOR GRIFFITHS BSC HONS Chair · since 2015
- Beverley Young since 2026

100
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.

[Full methodology →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology)

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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service?

Overall score

77/100 (4★)

Income

£4.2m

Cause spend

100% of expenditure

Reg number

1087210

Scope

UK-wide

Reserves

4 months

Trustees

7

Accounts year

2025

Filing

late

## How does THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE compare, and where else can you look?

[Compare THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE with others](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities?ids=the-st-john-and-red-cross-defence-medical-welfare-service) [More armed forces charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/armed-forces) [How we score charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology)

### Where THE ST. JOHN AND RED CROSS DEFENCE MEDICAL WELFARE SERVICE sits

The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.

- [armed forces charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/armed-forces)
- [health charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/health)
- [elderly charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/elderly)
- [disability charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/disability)
- [Charities in Salisbury](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/cities/salisbury)

### Similar armed forces charities

Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score

- [ROYAL NAVAL SAILING ASSOCIATION](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/royal-naval-sailing-association) 99/100 · £782k
- [THE ROYAL AIR FORCES ASSOCIATION - CORPORATE BODY](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/the-royal-air-forces-association-corporate-body) 98/100 · £22m
- [ARMY FLYING MUSEUM LIMITED](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/army-flying-museum-limited) 96/100 · £1.3m
- [CARE OF POLICE SURVIVORS](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/care-of-police-survivors) 93/100 · £661k

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## What red flags does The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service have?

## Frequently asked questions

Common questions about The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.

Is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service a good charity? + The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service scores 77 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 100% 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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service a legitimate charity? + Yes — The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service is a legitimate registered charity (charity number 1087210). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1087210. Registration proves status; Clarity Score then summarises filing transparency on paper, not programme impact.

What is The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's charity number? + The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's charity number is 1087210. 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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's charity rating? + The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service scores 77 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). 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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service have reviews and complaints? + CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (1 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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, 100% of The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service's overheads? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, combined overheads (fundraising plus governance) were about 2% of total expenditure at The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service. The filings CharityCompare uses do not publish CEO or senior-staff pay, so we cannot say what The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service receive? + The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service reported £4.2m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.

Are The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service based? + The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service is listed at Salisbury · UK-wide · SP11 9AQ and operates UK-wide, focused on armed forces.

How does CharityCompare score The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service? + We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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 St. John and Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service'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.