West Midlands Police Benevolent Fund Charity AGM
A big thank you to everyone who attended our Annual General Meeting last Friday 15 May.
Our Chairman, John Williams opened the meeting by welcoming the temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jen
Mattinson and fellow members to Guardians House. Our Auditor, Glen Bott and Director of Investor Management at Evelyn Partners, Luke Hunter also attended to give an overview of our charity’s accounts, our recent audit and our financial outlook for the year ahead.
John started the proceedings by recapping on last year’s efforts.
Over 5,000 ‘Before you go home – Are you OK’ postcards were posted through officer and staff lockers. The postcards feature the Oscar Kilo – checklist created by the National Police Wellbeing Service on the front. On the reverse of the card are details about the Benevolent Fund, a list of our membership benefits and a QR code to join.
We hope the cards have provided a gentle reminder to police colleagues that the Benevolent Fund is here to support the physical and emotional wellbeing of its members.
Our membership grew significantly during 2025. We welcomed just under 1,000 serving officers and police staff to the Benevolent Fund, pushing our membership total to just over 10,000!
Our Free Will Writing Service also proved a popular new membership benefit last year. We referred 200 members to the Will Writing Service and have received some positive feedback about the level of service members receive.
Another well liked benefit last year was the Bed and Breakfast weekend breaks at St Micheal’s Lodge. It has recently re-opened its doors again on weekends and their B&B breaks will continue until the end of October.
A new online booking system has been created by the North West Benevolent, making it easier for our members to select which weekend they would like to stay and speeding up the booking process.
During week days St Michael’s Lodge continues to offer state-of-the-art treatment for our members wishing to visit for a five-day residential wellbeing or physiotherapy break.
Our two holiday homes, in Dorset and Devon, were also in demand, with both seaside properties almost fully booked.
Our holiday home in Weymouth, Peel’s Retreat has received a fresh new look for 2026, with improvements to the inside and exterior of the property.
Retired officer Ken has just returned from a week’s stay at our holiday home Court Cottage in Dartmouth.
He gave this lovely feedback,
“My wife and I have recently returned from a week’s holiday at Court Cottage. To say we had a great week would be an understatement.
Yes, we were blessed with good weather which helped but the comfort, cleanliness and the level of equipment there was better than we could reasonably hope for. The surrounding areas and coastal towns are really picturesque.
Many thanks to everyone who has worked to provide this facility and made our visit possible. We are very grateful.”
In the normal course of our charity’s work we gave out £134,471 to support members in need.
This is how member benefits were distributed this past year:
- Sickness Vouchers £7,310
- Grants £37,586
- Loans £4,736
- Rehabilitation £43,492
- Mental Health Counselling £11,200
- Death Grants £12,000
- Dependents £15,747
- Private Consultations £2,358
- Family Event £2,750
Here are just some of the grants and loans given by the Benevolent Fund from applications received.
- £1,382 was granted to a member suffering a long-term illness to pay for a specialised bed to be used downstairs.
- £4,600 was granted to a retired member for a walk-in shower and bathroom conversion following a cancer diagnosis that has caused mobility issues.
- £1,100 was granted to a student member following a no-fault eviction, with storage issues when seeking new accommodation.
- £500 emergency grant given to a serving officer following a family separation. Shared parental responsibility meant the member needed help to pay for their child’s bed and bedding at their new home.
- £14,209 was granted to a retired officer whose husband suffers with dementia. The couple needed a bathroom conversion to enable the husband to be cared for at home.
- £2800 was granted to a serving staff member’s wife to fund a stairlift following a leg amputation.
- £500 emergency grant was given to a serving officer whose daughter is receiving cancer treatment. The money has helped with travel costs and accommodation associated with their daughter’s continued and prolonged hospital stays.
- £500 granted to an elderly retired officer suffering with a serious illness and whose wife had to travel long distances to visit them during their treatment. The money helped to recoup some of the high costs of accommodation and transport they incurred as a result.
- £12,000 granted to a retired member with progressive MND. The money helped with the cost of a specially adapted vehicle for the member to travel in.
- £615 loaned to a serving officer in severe financial difficulty to pay for essential vehicle repairs.
We would like to thank everyone for taking the time to attend our Annual General Meeting this year.
A special thanks to all our members for your continued support over the past 12 months. Your monthly subscriptions are vital to our work and we couldn’t provide the help to serving and retired officers, police staff and their families without you!
