Government support for independent lifeboats
There will be a debate on government support for independent lifeboats in Westminster Hall on 29 October 2025. The debate will be opened by Paul Holmes MP.
There will be a debate on government support for independent lifeboats in Westminster Hall on 29 October 2025. The debate will be opened by Paul Holmes MP.
Search and RescueSearch and rescue (SAR) provision in the UK is delivered through an amalgam of government departments, emergency services and various SAR charities and voluntary organisations. UK SAR is organised through the UK SAR Strategic Committee, an inter-departmental body which is currently chaired by the Department for Transport (DfT).
HM Coastguard provides a response and co-ordination service for air- and sea-based SAR in the UK. HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which is itself an agency of the DfT.
HM Coastguard co-ordinates air and sea-based SAR through its ten operations centres around the UK. These are in Caernarfon, Humberside, Inverness, Lee-on-Solent, Lydd, Newquay, Prestwick, St Athan, Sumburgh and Stornoway. Additionally, London Coastguard is co-located with the Port of London Authority and looks after SAR on the River Thames. The National Maritime Operations Centre is based within HM Coastguard’s national centre at Fareham in Hampshire.
According to the MCA’s Strategic Overview of SAR in the UK (updated May 2024), HM Coastguard’s role “includes the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons in distress in the air, at sea, in tidal waters or at risk of injury or death on the sea cliffs and shoreline of the UK.”
Other authorities, primarily police forces, also have an SAR role. Police forces utilise their command-and-control infrastructure to co-ordinate land-based SAR operations. As with HM Coastguard, police forces enable specialist, mainly voluntary organisations to respond to incidents and emergencies.
Fire services, ambulance services, and the Ministry of Defence may all also be involved in responding to SAR incidents, as can a range of voluntary organisations (such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Mountain Rescue and the British Cave Rescue Council). The assistance of these voluntary organisations is requested and tasked through one of the civilian coordinating authorities – a police force or HM Coastguard, who retain primacy for an overall incident.
Lifeboat services Independent lifeboat charitiesIn addition to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), other smaller voluntary organisations provide lifeboats in various coastal areas of the UK. These organisations are primarily run by volunteers and funded by donations.
As of March 2024, there were 54 independent lifeboat organisations operating in the United Kingdom, including:
- Hamble Lifeboat (Hampshire)
- Humber Rescue (Yorkshire/Lincolnshire)
- Jersey Lifeboat Association (Jersey)
- Lagan Search & Rescue (Belfast)
- Loch Lomond Rescue Boat (Stirlingshire/Dunbartonshire)
- Hope Cove Lifeboat (Devon)
Many of these independent lifeboat organisations are represented by the National Independent Lifeboat Association (NILA), which was set up in 2022 by the then MP for Totnes and South Devon, Anthony Mangnall, to provide support and a “national voice” for independent lifeboat organisations.
In 2024, NILA estimated that its members had:
- 3,479 volunteers, of which 1,025 are operational,
- attended 1,841 incidents,
- assisted 2,014 people,
- spent 49,000 hours on SAR, and
- spent 22,000 hours on patrol.
In total, NILA estimates that its members saved the taxpayer £2.6m in 2024.
In July 2023, NILA joined the UK Search and Rescue Operators Group as a trial member, enabling them to “feed into national discussions about the provision of search and rescue across the UK alongside other national voluntary services.”
RNLIThe RNLI is a charity, incorporated by Royal Charter for the purpose of saving lives, promoting safety and providing relief from disaster, primarily at sea and on specific inland waters.
The RNLI has 238 lifeboat stations, a fleet of over 400 lifeboats and 7,800 volunteers across the UK and Republic of Ireland. The RNLI states that it has “saved more than 146,000 lives since 1824.”
The RNLI’S Annual Report and Account 2024 stated that in 2024, the RNLI had:
- launched 9,141 times,
- aided 8,529 people (equivalent to 69 a day),
- saved 437 lives, and
- spent 57,283 hours at sea.
The RNLI is a member of the UK SAR Strategic Committee and the UK SAR Operators Group.
Funding Independent lifeboat charitiesNILA states that its members are “funded by local donations”.
The Conservative government ran the Rescue Boat Grant Fund between 2015 and 2020, which awarded £5.6 million to 104 independent inshore and inland rescue boat charities around the UK. A full list of the charities who received funding is available here.
Since the Rescue Boat Grant Fund ended in 2020, there have been several calls for its reinstatement. The most recent occasion was in January 2023, by the then MP for Totnes and South Devon, Anthony Magnall, who stated:
I call for the reintroduction of the rescue boat grant fund, which is specifically for the independents. […] That fund was essential in helping those independent lifeboats. It was not a huge amount of money, but it made all the difference to those independent lifeboat stations.
In response, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Richard Holden, stated that he would raise the reintroduction of the Rescue Boat Grant Fund with the Treasury but warned that “we will require further support to get to where we want to be.”
At a reception in Parliament in March 2024, the Chair of NILA, Neil Dalton, called for the reintroduction of the Rescue Boat Grant Fund, stating that it had been a “veritable lifeline” to independent lifeboat charities:
It has been historically difficult to make the general public understand that not all lifeboat facilities around the UK are provided by the RNLI, despite many of our member organisations having been in existence for hundreds of years.
Possibly one of the most important issues is to lobby with the support of Anthony Mangnall MP for the reintroduction of the DFT Rescue Boat Grant Fund which has proved a veritable lifeline to many of our members in the past.
In response, the then Maritime Minister, Lord Davies of Gower, stated that NILA would “continue to receive support” from the government but did not commit to reintroducing the Rescue Boat Grant Fund:
NILA will continue to receive support, both directly from my department and through His Majesty’s Coastguard, to keep advocating for independent lifeboats, to keep bringing more stations into the fold, and to keep delivering your lifesaving work.
The Labour government has not commented on funding arrangements for independent lifeboats or given any indication that it plans to reintroduce the Rescue Boat Grant Fund.
RNLIAccording to the RNLI, it cost £190.3m to run its service in 2024.
The RNLI states that “less than 1% of our funding comes from government sources” (PDF). It states that “90% of its total income comes from donations” with “the remaining 10% coming from income sources such as trading and investments.”
In 2024, the RNLI received £222.4m in donations and legacies. The only government funding it received was £5,000 from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office towards its Creches for Bangladesh project which aims to reduce drowning mortality for children in rural communities in Bangladesh.
The RNLI’s philosophy is “to provide our lifesaving service using volunteers wherever possible, with voluntary donations supplying the funds needed to do so.”
The RNLI states that it “will not seek funding from central government if this could jeopardise our independence.”
Further readingCommons Library research briefing CDP-0244, Contribution of lifeboat services to search and rescue, 30 December 2022
Commons Library research briefing CDP-0067, Bicentenary of the RNLI, 22 March 2024
National Independent Lifeboat Association, Newsletters, accessed 23 October 2025
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Annual Report and Accounts 2024, 18 June 2025
Useful linksRecent debates and parliamentary questions about government support for independent lifeboats are available on the parliamentary database.