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Annual Review 2024

The Merchant Navy Welfare Board is the UK's National Seafarers' Welfare Board, established in 1948 as the umbrella charity for the UK Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets. In 2024 the Board coordinated 47 member charities and 15 Port Welfare Committees, delivered the MiFi internet access project to seafarers across UK ports, awarded vehicle and welfare grants, launched five new annual award categories, and received a transformative £3.4 million legacy from Mr Ronald Camp. Total income was £3.98 million and expenditure £1.17 million, with the legacy building reserves for future charitable activity.

Report snapshot
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About

Grants and project funding to member charities; Port Welfare Committees; MiFi mobile internet hotspot programme for seafarers; port information leaflets; welfare training; EDI programme; Vehicle Replacement Programme; C188 online fishing welfare training

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 47 member charities coordinated across the UK Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets
Key Metric 2 15 Port Welfare Committees active across the UK plus a Seafarers' Welfare Board in Gibraltar
Key Metric 3 £3.4 million legacy received from Mr Ronald Camp — largest single gift in the charity's history

Key Outcomes

  • 36 MiFi mobile hotspots distributed to port chaplains across the UK, reaching record data usage of nearly 9TB in a single month in 2024
  • £120,000 in vehicle grants awarded under the Vehicle Replacement Programme, funding 8 new vehicles for Stella Maris, Mission to Seafarers and Fishermen's Mission
  • First dedicated seafarers' welfare session held at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Maritime and Ports; first National Port Welfare Forum established

Geography

UK-Wide

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
Total income £18,180,000 and total expenditure £18,560,000 (year ended 31 December 2024, charity no. 1084958 England/Wales and SC039654 Scotland); in 2024 spent £3.8m on...
Key Metric 2
700+ members supported through in-person visits and support calls in 2025; 697 support grants allocated in 2025 for essential items including specialist clothing, cooling...
Key Metric 3
Largest global investment in EB research to date: multi-million-pound drug repurposing trial provisionally agreed with LifeArc partner at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation...
£34,000 raised in 2025 winter appeal supporting families like Darcie's with specialist items, emotional support and research; 697 support grants delivered in 2025; first Members Connect event in Northern Ireland; EB Priorities Setting Partnership study completed providing global research roadmap
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
22,507 households helped through RBL casework and specialist support services across 66 countries
Key Metric 2
22,600 grants given to those in need, totalling £11.8 million
Key Metric 3
733 beneficiaries represented at tribunals, resulting in £24.5 million in War Pensions awards
1,548 new families living with dementia supported by RBL Admiral Nurses service
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
3,600 blind veterans received support across the UK; 447 new blind veterans started receiving support in 2024/25
Key Metric 2
1,598 referrals to rehabilitation services completed; 313 veterans received assistive technology training
Key Metric 3
997 volunteers donated 26,824 hours of support; befriending service awarded Quality in Befriending Excellence — one of only 11 organisations in the UK to...
1,831 National Creative Wellbeing Project packs issued to help veterans reconnect with creativity and independence
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
349,000+ people completed the Know Your Risk tool to assess their risk of type 2 diabetes in 2024
Key Metric 2
£4 million invested in 17 new research projects; total active grants portfolio worth over £45 million
Key Metric 3
32% of people completing NHS England's Path to Remission programme — which Diabetes UK campaigned for — put their type 2 diabetes into remission
Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge invested over £23 million in 19 projects across 161 experts from 47 institutions in 8 countries since 2022