About the RNLI

The R.N.L.I is a charity which provides 24-hour life saving service to the U.K. and Republic of Ireland. Since 1824 it has maintained the philosophy of providing this service using volunteers where possible, receiving no funding from the U.K government.

The R.N.L.I. aim to be regarded universally as the most effective, innovative and dependable lifeboat and life guard service available. To fulfil this brief they have employed the use of a variety of equipment and selected locations to give them the flexibility needed to cover as many areas as possible.

Since the R.N.L.I. was founded it has saved over 137,000 lives and that's not to mention all the other people they help!

To keep this quality of service their equipment has to be designed, built, fuelled and maintained, as well as crews needing to be fully trained and equipped. This high expectation is what enables them to hit their average launch time of 10 minutes and attend situations in all weather.

The R.N.L.I. operates over 140 lifeguard units around the U.K. which last year assisted over 11,000 people and they still aim to expand to more areas, increasing the vital service they offer to more areas and improving response times. Over the next 3 years they aim to double the number of stations so that every area in need of seasonal patrols has them.

Costs

Each year it costs £580 to train and over £450 to equip each lifeguard.

In 2008 the total cost of operating and fundraising came to approximately £139M, they expect this cost to remain similar until 2014. Any additional funds made are destined to help fund improvements in efficiency and effectiveness to the service they provide.