A group of disgruntled HM Coastguard volunteers have written to the Chief Executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, accusing senior leaders of becoming disconnected from frontline teams amid ongoing concerns over changes to volunteer payments.
The 6-page open letter, addressed to MCA Chief Executive Virginia McVea, comes just days after confirmation of major changes to volunteer payments nationwide.
The changes follow an Employment Tribunal and subsequent court action brought by former Station Officer for Bembridge, Martin Groom, which prompted the MCA to review the remuneration payments made to volunteers – now considered ‘workers’ – across the UK.
As previously reported by Island Echo, there are concerns that the loss of the payments could have implications for recruitment and retention on the Island, and elsewhere in the country.
In the letter, those behind ‘The Disgruntled Coastguard’ say many Coastguard Rescue Officers feel increasingly disconnected from senior leadership and claim repeated expressions of gratitude have not been matched by meaningful support.
The letter describes the emotional impact of the role, highlighting the lasting effect of incidents attended by volunteers and arguing that senior decision-makers do not fully appreciate the pressures faced by frontline teams.
On the Isle of Wight, Coastguard Rescue Teams are based at Bembridge, Ventnor and The Needles.
While stressing that criticism is not aimed at local management, the letter accuses senior leaders of lacking transparency and avoiding difficult questions.
Referring to the tribunal case involving Mr Groom, the group says the legal action did not create the current problems, but instead exposed issues that had existed for some time.
The letter also raises concerns about the long-term resilience of the service, warning that continued dissatisfaction among volunteers could ultimately affect response capability.
Island Echo understands that some Coastguard Rescue Officers on the Isle of Wight share concerns similar to those outlined in the letter, although views differ across teams.
The strongly-worded document goes on to question whether the current leadership has the confidence of those serving on the frontline and calls for greater accountability from senior figures within the MCA.
Despite the criticism, the letter says Coastguard Rescue Officers remain proud to serve their communities and insists the concerns stem from a desire to protect the future of the service.
The letter concludes by calling for “truth, accountability and leadership worthy of the people who continue to stand on beaches, cliffs, harbours, floodwaters and doorsteps for the communities they serve.”
Last week, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said:
“After careful consideration, we are moving the Coastguard Rescue Service to a revised volunteer model, to best protect the future of the service.
“This decision follows a legal judgment, which means we need to change how the service operates. This new model protects choice, flexibility and the ability for people to volunteer alongside their primary employment.
“We deeply value and recognise the significant service Coastguard Rescue Officers provide along our coastline, and we will be supporting them during this transition. The Coastguard Rescue Service will continue to maintain a robust, effective search and rescue response, ensuring the highest quality of service and levels of safety.”
Here’s a thought, spend less money on running a free taxi service for illegal immigrants and you might have a few bob left over to pay these great people who look after our costlines.
I know a couple of guys who volunteer for HMC and they do what could be a very dangerous job 100% selflessly.
Unfortunately, as we have seen with H&IW Constabulary recently and the NHS continuously, those at the coal face are subjected to unreasonable and pointless demands of their superiors who are in thrall to the stupidity of Net Zero and DEI.
In his introduction to the 2025-2026 MCA Business Plan, Lord Stevens says:
“the MCA plays an important role in supporting decarbonisation of the maritime sector, and we will work with industry and innovators to support a safe transition. The Department for Transport recently published a Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy”.
The whole point of the MCA is to save lives and not to act as a conduit for pointless left wing ideologies.
Even the Trades Union movement now understand the damage that is being deliberately caused to jobs and the economy by self harming policies introduced by that oaf Boris Johnson and double down upon by Ed Milipede.
I’m absolutely baffled that coastguards do one of the most dangerous jobs and do so frequently with risk to their own lives – on a voluntary basis.
We are in debt to each and every one of them that gives up their spare time.
I wonder how many lives have been saved by them?
We should be giving these amazing people a proper wage, not removing a small (less than minimum wage) payment for call outs. The hours spent on training alone are long and hard.
The government should truly be ashamed of themselves.
RNLI is the same, all these positions should be paid for
positions.
The Government over employ in so many other areas
if they get their own house in order they can reduce
unnesseccary employees in other areas and that will
pay for these employees who are much needed and do
a dangerous job.
This service has been on the slide for years. With Management who are only in post for their own benefit, who constantly make empty promises to keep morale high. Their compensation scheme for CROs injured on duty, was only set up to deal with members who were on a salary in their full time occupation. The self employed, who made up 70% of the team & could respond a great deal more incidents than the employed were not given a second thought. Therefore went without any payment when injured. If any CROs have any sense, they would leave before left in a totally dia financial situation. The money this decision will save, shall enable the helicopter a bigger purse to assist those in grave danger. So nobody will die.