1. HM Coastguard & What We Do
What is the Coastguard Rescue Service?
The Coastguard Rescue Service is made up of approximately 3,000 highly trained personnel operating across roughly 300 remote, specialised stations around the UK. Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is designated as a Category 1 Responder. This places us legally on the exact same footing as the Police, Fire, and Ambulance services as a core blue-light authority responsible for leading the frontline response to major national emergencies to search and rescue operations along the coastline, out at sea, and during national emergencies like coastal flooding.
As the sole UK-wide emergency response service, our 3,000 CROs are stationed across Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland - ensuring that even the most remote island communities have a dedicated lifeline. Becoming a Coastguard Rescue Officer is a rigorous process starting with an intensive, compulsory 8-day technical training course just to qualify. Following this foundation, officers must undergo extensive, ongoing training, with further specialist qualifications mandatory for stations that operate dedicated Rope Rescue and Mud Rescue technical teams
What does a CRO actually do on a weekly basis?
Coastguard Rescue Officers (CROs) can be on call 24/7, 365 days a year. Beyond responding to pager emergency call-outs, a CRO’s commitment also includes:
1. Weekly Training
Typically around 2 hours per week keeping up with intense safety protocols, technical rescue skills (cliff, mud, water), and medical response.
2. Flood Response & Specialisations
Our service maintains dedicated flood response capabilities, which require intensive, additional training to ensure teams can safely deploy to support inland communities during severe national flooding disasters.
3. Search and Rescue (SAR) capability
Our teams provide the UK's primary, land-based coastal search and rescue capability, deploying specialized search techniques to locate missing vulnerable persons, treating casualties, and executing complex rescues along cliff faces, mudflats, and shorelines.
4. Service Events
Representing the service in uniform at safety demonstrations, community events, and joint emergency service operations—which can frequently last 6 hours or more per deployment.
2. The Groom v MCA Ruling & The Current Crisis
What was the court ruling?
Supported by the GMB Union, the case of Maritime and Coastguard Agency v Martin Groom went to the Court of Appeal. The court ruled decisively that during periods of training and active deployment where CROs receive hourly remuneration and must obey strict operational orders, they hold the legal status of "workers." This granted CROs fundamental rights regarding pay protections, holiday entitlements, and the right to union representation.
3. The Campaign & GMB Representation
What is the goal of the Collective Bargaining Group?
Our goal is to secure a seat at the negotiating table with the MCA using a recognised trade union. Collective bargaining is not about choosing one model over another. It is about ensuring the workforce has a democratic voice. We believe there is a space to negotiate a balanced model that respects those who wish to operate on a pure volunteer basis, while firmly protecting the remuneration, backdated pay, pensions, and worker rights of those who rely on them.
What changed on June 1st?
On June 1st, the MCA issued a directive to the fleet announcing their intention to replace the existing system with a fully volunteer-only model, set to take effect by September. This model strips away the legally recognised worker rights, removing all financial remuneration for training, service events, and emergency responses.
Crucially, our Station Officers (SOs) and Deputy Station Officers (DSOs) - who hold immense operational command responsibility - are classified under this model as volunteers. While they are currently remunerated for their vital leadership hours, the MCA's proposed model expects them to manage their entire rescue stations and command teams completely unpaid from September.
4. The Impact on Coastal Communities & Tourism
What is the geographic scale of the coastline we protect?
The UK coastline is immense and highly complex. The mainland across England, Wales, and Scotland covers roughly 11,000 miles. However, when you factor in the thousands of wiggles, inlets, and the hundreds of inhabited and uninhabited islands off the mainland (from the Hebrides and Orkneys to the Isle of Wight and Anglesey), that number rises to over 19,000 miles of coastline. No matter where you are in the UK, you are never more than 70 miles from the sea.
How does this MCA proposal impact people living on the coast?
Coastal communities rely heavily on local CROs because we live and work in these areas. We have vital local knowledge - understanding local tides, hidden rip currents, cliff structures, and quicksand traps that cannot be taught in a generic manual. If the MCA forces skilled, experienced professionals out of the service because they can no longer afford to give up their working hours for zero compensation, response times will increase, putting coastal lives at immediate risk.
What does this mean for day-trippers and the tourism industry?
The UK’s coastal tourism industry draws millions of visitors every year, especially during the peak summer months. Visitors who come for a day at the beach or a coastal hike rely on the invisible safety net provided by the Coastguard. By replacing a robust, structured worker-and-volunteer model with a purely volunteer service, the MCA risks destabilising our rescue capability exactly when our beaches and coastal paths are at their busiest.
5. THE NEXT STEPS
HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN?
This is a fast-moving campaign and we urgently need public support to protect our coastal rescue services; please click the link below to find out exactly how you can help support your local teams today.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED