Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Emergency Calls

(asked on 29th June 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many volunteers are involved in emergency call outs for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.


Answered by
Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill Portrait
Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill
Minister of State (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 9th July 2026

The UK mainline coastline is 11,073 miles (source Ordnance Survey), increasing to 19,491 miles if larger offshore islands are included. However, the coastline of the UK is fully encompassed by the UK Search and Rescue Region (UK SRR) which HM Coastguard continually monitors for distress and urgency calls.

Total Maritime and Coastguard Agency Resource Budget:

2024/25 £447.7million

2023/24 £416.6million

2022/23 £416.2million

Total Spend on Volunteer Payments

2024/25 £5.7million

2023/24 £5.2million

2022/23 £4.5million

Total spent on Staffing Costs for the last 3 years:

2024/25

£78.9million

2023/24

£72.4million

2022/23

£65.4million

There are approximately 3,000 volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers.

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