MERCY SHIPS - U.K LTD

Registered charity 1053055 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as MERCY SHIPS, MERCY SHIPS UK · also registered in Scotland as SC039743 (OSCR)

Mercy Ships UK is part of a global charity that uses hospital ships to deliver free healthcare to people in some of the poorest countries in the world. Our volunteers work with host nations to improve healthcare systems by training local medical staff and renovating facilities to leave a lasting legacy. Since 1978, we've visited 56 countries, providing services worth more than £1.2 billion.

Objects

TO RELIEF POVERTY, SICKNESS AND DISTRESS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD; THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION THROUGH OUT THE WORLD; THE ADVANCEMENT OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD;AND SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD AS THE DIRECTORS MAY DETERMINE.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Economic/community Development/employment · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Stevenage, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income increased by 13% to £11.2m, while total expenditure rose by 26% to £13.6m, resulting in a net decrease in funds. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted free reserves stood at £3.5m at year-end, representing 6.7 months of operating costs, which the directors consider adequate for future operations.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Azets Audit Services. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03147724

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Mercy Ships (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• FRASER, Alisdair Allan — director, appointed 01/07/2025on trustee list
• HICKMAN, Bernard Leigh — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• SPENCE, Michael James, Dr — director, appointed 25/03/2022on trustee list
• ADEYEMI, Ade — director, appointed 04/01/2022on trustee list
• WHITE, Michelle Claire — director, appointed 01/12/2021on trustee list
• CHENG, Leo Hurk-Hang — director, appointed 16/09/2020on trustee list
• THALAYASINGAM, Naiomi Ashanthi — director, appointed 16/03/2020on trustee list
• BOYLE, Lois — director, appointed 04/07/2018on trustee list
• MILENKOVIC, Angharad Jane — director, appointed 14/03/2018on trustee list
• RAMSBOTTOM, Paul Benjamin — director, appointed 12/06/2015on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.1 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 22.4% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (05/06/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (12/02/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (11/08/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (16/02/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (03/01/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (01/04/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Ade Adeyemi
• Alisdair Fraser · trustee of 1 other charity
• Angharad Jane Milenkovic
• Bernard Hickman
• Dr Michelle Claire White
• Leo Hurk-Hang Cheng
• Lois Boyle
• Michael Spence Dr
• Naiomi Ashanthi Thalayasingam
• Paul Benjamin Ramsbottom · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rachel Emma Vardy

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Benin · Cameroon · Congo · Congo (Democratic Republic) · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-bissau · Ivory Coast · Liberia · Madagascar · Mozambique · Senegal

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with MERCY WORLDWIDE TRUST.

• MERCY WORLDWIDE TRUST income £29k
• MERCY MISSION UK income £9.3m
• MEDICAL MISSION INTERNATIONAL (UK) income £935k
• Royal Marines Association - The Royal Marines Charity income £5.8m
• HEAL HUMANITY LTD income £2.3m
• THE MISSION TO SEAFARERS income £6.8m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.