Open petition: Introduce legislation to make it possible to renumerate emergency volunteers

Created by John Bradbury MBE
Closes on 13 October 2026

In our view, following the Groom vs Maritime and Coastguard Agency case, the Government needs to recognise the essential role volunteers play in the emergency service sector by introducing legislation allowing organisations to remunerate emergency volunteers whilst preserving its volunteer status.

Since the mid-1800s shore based maritime search & rescue has been performed by volunteers. We think that over the last 175 years the frequency of rescues has increased, along with the standards/training requirement to conform with health & safety, safeguarding and clinical standards. In our view, this evolution has muddied the waters between worker and volunteer over time. We think when volunteers leave their primary employment or families to provide an emergency response, it is only fair to remunerate them.

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