Charity

Investigations into PBCC-linked charities, trusts and the Rapid Relief Team — funding flows, conflicts of interest and the gap between charitable claims and financial reality.

The PBCC's charitable structures — The Grace Trust, UBT, Rapid Relief Team, Stormwater Shepherds — collectively hold billions in assets while operating as registered charities in multiple countries. These investigations examine how those structures are used, who controls them, and where the money goes.

Charity · Data · New
Where the Grace Trust’s Money Goes: 97p in Every Pound to Brethren Bodies
The Brethren’s main UK charity gave away £241m between 2021 and 2025. We extracted every one of its 2,134 grants from the published accounts. Hospices, air ambulances and food banks received more than 2,000 grants between them, but only 2.8% of the money. NAF UK, the Brethren’s own welfare fund, received £94.3m on its own. Search every grant.
Source Grace Trust accounts 2021–2025 Published September 2026 Read time 7 min Read the investigation →
Charity · Business · Politics
Stormwater Shepherds: Charity or Corporate Lobbyist?
All six trustees are PBCC members. The UK charity spends 90% of its income employing one person to promote stormwater regulation, and is funded by SPEL Environmental, owned by Stephen and Cameron Hales.
Brethren Exposed / Open & Candid · July 2025 · 6 min read
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Charity
Rapid Relief Team: A Conflict of Interest?
The RRT invested £200,000 in a company owned by its own trustee's family with no conflict of interest declared. Referred to the Charity Commission.
Open & Candid / Brethren Exposed · 10 min read
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Charity · Community
Campus & Co to Close: UBT Shuts the Brethren's Global Retail Network
247 stores, 9,000 unpaid volunteers, 120,000 hours per month. Only profitable because the staff worked for free. Apply minimum wage — it was losing millions.
Brethren Exposed · July 2025 · 5 min read
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Charity · Business · Crime
Brethren Member Banned for Tax Fraud
William Gage submitted an altered receipt from The Benevolent Relief Fund — a PBCC charity — and claimed false deductions over 13 years. Terminated and banned by the Tax Practitioners Board.
Brethren Exposed · July 2025 · 5 min read
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Planning & Charity
Purchasing Residential Homes for Future Development? — Swanley
The Manor Gospel Trust has spent £1 million acquiring three adjacent cottages, left empty while its RRT volunteers deliver food boxes to the homeless nearby.
Open & Candid / Brethren Exposed · August 2025 · 8 min read
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Planning & Charity
Purchasing a Pub for Future Development? — Chippenham
The Down Gospel Trust acquired a 400-year-old pub funded by a global £120,000 special contribution — the same mechanism used to pay Bruce Hales personally.
Open & Candid / Brethren Exposed · August 2025 · 9 min read
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Charity · Business
UBT Sold: The Grace Trust's £98 Million Trading Arm Transferred to a Private Company
UBT (EU) Ltd — generating £98 million of the PBCC's main UK charity income — sold to UBT Holdings Ltd, incorporated weeks earlier with minimal assets. Both directors of the buyer are Covid contract winners. The Charity Commission has been notified.
Brethren Exposed · 2022 · 6 min read
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Charity · Contracts · Business
The Beckenham Gospel Hall: Five Trustees, Seventeen Companies, £2 Billion in Covid Contracts
A routine examination of a small Beckenham meeting room charity reveals its five trustees connect — through company roles and family ties — to 17 PBCC companies that won Covid contracts worth approaching £2 billion.
Brethren Exposed · January 2022 · 9 min read
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Charity · Finance · Education
Eye of the Needle: How the Grace Trust Channels £100 Million a Year
The Grace Trust declared £102.7 million in income in 2019. UBT (EU) contributed £78 million. Almost 90% of all grants went to Brethren school networks. External charities received less than 1%. A tax-efficient structure funding private schooling through a charitable vehicle.
Brethren Exposed · January 2021 · 8 min read
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Charity · Contracts
Grace Growth Through PPE: The PBCC's Main UK Charity Grew by £25 Million in 2020
UBT entered PPE in April 2020 and sold the business to CoShield Global in June 2020, retaining 30% of net profit for 12 months. The Grace Trust's income rose from £102m to £127m. CoShield shares UBT's registered address.
Brethren Exposed · October 2021 · 5 min read
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