[4] His Majesty's Coastguard is a uniformed service that fulfills six of the nine functions required by the International Maritime Organization (IMO): The other three IMO functions; Customs/Border Control, Fisheries Control and Law Enforcement, are undertaken by the UK Border Force, Marine Management Organisation and local police forces, respectively.

It is a Category 1 emergency responder alongside the United Kingdom's regional police, fire, and ambulance services as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency wet leases commercial aircraft for HM Coastguard operations — Sikorsky S-92s and AgustaWestland AW189s — to provide aerial search and rescue cover around Great Britain and Northern Ireland, supported by fixed-wing aircraft such as the Beechcraft King Air and Diamond DA-62 in reconnaissance and counter-pollution roles.

In 1821 a committee of inquiry recommended that responsibility for the Preventive Water Guard should be transferred from HM Treasury to the Board of Customs.

The Treasury agreed, and in a Minute dated 15 January 1822 directed that they be placed under the authority of the Board of Customs and named the Coast Guard.

The new Coast Guard inherited a number of shore stations and watch houses from its predecessor bodies as well as several coastal vessels, and these provided bases for its operations over the following years.

In 1829 the first Coast Guard instructions were published, dealing mainly with discipline and the prevention of smuggling; they also stipulated that when a wreck took place the Coast Guard was responsible for taking all possible action to save lives, taking charge of the vessel and protecting property.

Responsibilities for revenue protection were retained, but hands-on rescue services began to be undertaken more and more by Volunteer Life Brigades and by the lifeboats of the RNLI, with the Coast Guard acting in a support role.

For the rest of the twentieth century, the Coastguard continued to operate primarily out of local shore stations (use of ships had declined after 1923).

From the 1960s onwards, though, priorities were changing from maintaining coastal lookouts to provision of co-ordinated search and rescue services.

Old watch houses, with their on-site accommodation and annexed boathouses, gave way to new technology-based Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres, far fewer in number.

Rope rescue methods are to recover casualties who have fallen or are stuck on cliffs or difficult to reach areas, be they rural or urban.

[10] Each team member receives extensive casualty care training that goes much further than just basic first aid, the course known as CERCC (Coastguard Emergency Responder Casualty Care) is taught by a team of trainers locally around the coast with regular role play training and evaluation.

[12] Each frontline Coastguard Rescue Vehicle carries a fully stocked Coastguard Emergency Responder Bag which includes a first aid kit, pelvic splint, frac straps, airways set (OPA & NPA), trauma dressings, airway suction kit + bag, valve & mask set.

That includes initiating and co-ordinating search and rescue at sea or on the coast through His Majesty's Coastguard, ensuring that ships meet British and international safety rules, and preventing maritime pollution.

In addition, various "Memorandums of Understanding" exist between the Coastguard and other emergency services to establish primacy when working in each other's areas of expertise.

Coastguard Rescue Teams are paged via an SMS based system detailing the emergency incident, or via a VHF pager, although these are being phased out.

The Maritime Operations Officer will use the correct chart or map for the area and they are trained to ask questions that will help the caller identify where they are.

The Maritime Operations Officer who takes the call may keep talking to the caller, while another can be passing information to the chosen rescue resources.

The coxswain of a lifeboats and the SAR helicopter pilot would be in command of that rescue asset, whilst being coordinated by the MRCC or the OIC.

Under a 10-year £1.6 billion contract starting in 2015, Bristow Helicopters assumed responsibility for search and rescue operations within the United Kingdom on behalf of HM Coastguard.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency launched a tender in 2021 for their second generation UK search and rescue aviation programme (UKSAR2G),[19] for an upgraded helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and UAV service.

HMCG have their own VHF radio network spread across the entire British Coast, this includes sites located on the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and Remote Scottish Islands.

List of utilised communications within HMCG: HMCG has invested heavily in introducing state of the art systems & services to aid Search & Rescue, started in 2014 after the organisational restructure a dedicated computer network was introduced specifically used for operational working.

As part of the recent UKSAR2G tender, unmanned aircraft (drones) technology has been provisioned, with feeds potentially being provided to Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) for better incident working.

King Charles III is the Honorary Commodore of HMCG, and wears a uniform with the ranks insignia of Chief Coastguard plus an extra bar.