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Annual Report and Accounts 2025

Combat Stress is the UK's leading charity for veterans' mental health, founded in 1919. In 2024/25 over 13,000 veterans benefited from specialist support including a 24-hour helpline, psychological therapies and the VICTOR intensive PTSD treatment programme. Clinical data shows 73% of veterans who undertake treatment recover from PTSD — significantly above recovery rates in other mental health services — with 97% reporting a good or very good experience.

Report snapshot
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About

24-hour veteran helpline; specialist psychological therapies including CT-PTSD, EMDR, NET and CPT; VICTOR intensive PTSD treatment programme; peer support; family support; occupational therapy; substance misuse support Custom geography from upload: UK

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 Over 13,000 veterans benefited from specialist support in 2024/25, including helpline, online resources and direct clinical treatment
Key Metric 2 73% of veterans who undertake treatment recover from PTSD, exceeding recovery rates of other mental health services
Key Metric 3 Over 20,000 people from the Armed Forces community benefited from specialist help, including families and loved ones

Key Outcomes

  • VICTOR intensive treatment programme — the only one of its kind for veterans in the UK — won the Healthcare and Rehabilitation Award at the Soldiering On Awards 2024
  • 97% of veterans who received treatment reported a good or very good experience; 81% reported improvement in mental health
  • 18 academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals in the year, advancing knowledge of veteran mental health and treatment approaches

Geography

Other

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
Total income £18,180,000 and total expenditure £18,560,000 (year ended 31 December 2024, charity no. 1084958 England/Wales and SC039654 Scotland); in 2024 spent £3.8m on...
Key Metric 2
700+ members supported through in-person visits and support calls in 2025; 697 support grants allocated in 2025 for essential items including specialist clothing, cooling...
Key Metric 3
Largest global investment in EB research to date: multi-million-pound drug repurposing trial provisionally agreed with LifeArc partner at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation...
£34,000 raised in 2025 winter appeal supporting families like Darcie's with specialist items, emotional support and research; 697 support grants delivered in 2025; first Members Connect event in Northern Ireland; EB Priorities Setting Partnership study completed providing global research roadmap
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
22,507 households helped through RBL casework and specialist support services across 66 countries
Key Metric 2
22,600 grants given to those in need, totalling £11.8 million
Key Metric 3
733 beneficiaries represented at tribunals, resulting in £24.5 million in War Pensions awards
1,548 new families living with dementia supported by RBL Admiral Nurses service
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
3,600 blind veterans received support across the UK; 447 new blind veterans started receiving support in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
1,598 referrals to rehabilitation services completed; 313 veterans received assistive technology training
Key Metric 3
997 volunteers donated 26,824 hours of support; befriending service awarded Quality in Befriending Excellence — one of only 11 organisations in the UK to...
1,831 National Creative Wellbeing Project packs issued to help veterans reconnect with creativity and independence
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
349,000+ people completed the Know Your Risk tool to assess their risk of type 2 diabetes in 2024
Key Metric 2
£4 million invested in 17 new research projects; total active grants portfolio worth over £45 million
Key Metric 3
32% of people completing NHS England's Path to Remission programme — which Diabetes UK campaigned for — put their type 2 diabetes into remission
Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge invested over £23 million in 19 projects across 161 experts from 47 institutions in 8 countries since 2022