We exist to be a lifeline when someone disappears. We provide free advice, support services and ways to find missing people. Last year we found 1,126 missing people, safeguarded 4,105 missing children and adults, supported 1,981 families with a missing loved one, and responded to an average of 161 contacts a day to our free, confidential helpline.

We have more than 20 years’ experience as specialists providing support to families and to missing people. Our partners include the National Crime Agency; police forces across the UK; voluntary organisations across Europe who share our Vision; and the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for the Study of Missing Persons.

No. Thanks to our fantastic team of volunteers, pro bono partners, media partners, funders and individual supporters, all of our services are provided completely free of charge.

No. Missing People is an independent charity funded by donations. We work in collaboration with a range of partners across the UK, including local police forces, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS).  Find out more about our partners.

Missing People is a proud member of the Fundraising Standards Board and fundraises in accordance with the charity’s Ethical Policy. As an independent charity, we rely on public donations.

Every cash donation is matched with gifts-in-kind of the same value, or higher, from generous corporate supporters. This means the charity does not use cash donations to pay for many overheads such as office space, or legal fees, amongst many others.

On average, the charity generates £3-4 of income for every pound it spends on fundraising. Total fundraising costs are normally no more than 20-25% of our total annual expenditure.

At Missing People, we never use the image or details of any current or former missing person without the express permission of that person’s family. This applies to both our appeals and fundraising activity.

As a service provider, the charity’s main cost is our fabulous staff team of around 60 people, and the training and support for almost 500 volunteers, all of whom help us continue to be a lifeline, accredited in 2015 with the ‘Helpline Standard’ by the Helplines Partnership. The charity regularly benchmarks salaries with other voluntary organisations of our size to ensure our staff salaries are comparable.

Patrons, Ambassadors and Family Representatives of Missing People are all volunteers. The expectations of people who represent the charity are considered carefully by Directors, Trustees and the individual prior to their appointment. Family Representatives are self-appointed following discussion with the charity.

The Board of Trustees are all volunteers recruited to provide governance and strategic oversight to Missing People. They ensure the Executive teamwork to meet the charity’s Vision and charitable Aims.

Volunteers in all roles receive no payment for their time. Reasonable travel costs are of course offered.

The charity has an Ethics Policy to ensure decisions about our partnerships are consistent and in keeping with the charity’s Vision and charitable Aims.

In addition, Missing People is developing a Green Travel Policy to ensure we minimise the impact of travel by staff and volunteers on the environment.

People work at Missing People to make a difference. We sometimes use zero hour contracts to allow flexibility on both sides, where we are not obligated to offer work and conversely, the contracted employee is not obligated to accept work. Whilst most of our helpline team are employed in part time or full time posts, an example of when we use these contracts is to help us cover our helpline service.  Often, flexible working fits around the employee’s other commitments. Sometimes we need staff to cover at short notice or to work flexibly, like supply teachers. In these roles, our amazing bank staff know it helps us run our service. We don’t ask people to turn up and then send them home and we don’t expect them to work exclusively with us. We keep the dialogue open, ensuring this agreement works for both sides.

If you would like Missing People to send a representative to talk at an event, please send details of the date, time, location, likely attendance and the purpose of the talk to supporters@missingpeople.org.uk. We are very grateful for opportunities to raise awareness of our services, but attendance at events is subject to the availability of an appropriate staff member or volunteer.

Missing People partners with the National Crime Agency to enable families to be referred to us for support. This also means that we can host online appeals for most of those missing in the UK at www.missingpeople.org.uk

Through the charity’s formal police partnerships and professionally run 24 hour helpline we are able to remove and update appeals at the request of families and the police. This avoids upset if someone has actually been found safe and well (or sadly found dead) and ensures the credibility of the information.

We are therefore not able to endorse other sites.

Occasionally the charity is made aware of people with an interest in missing persons who offer ‘support’ (in person, by phone or online) to families they don’t know. This type of involvement can lead to emotional harm to the family in question, and those offering the ‘support’, as often, the boundaries are not clear and the ‘support’ is not professional.

If you have a missing loved one, and are concerned about someone contacting you offering support and help, please contact your dedicated support worker, or our helpline on 116 000 (free, confidential).

Anyone offering support independently is asked to make it clear on all materials they produce that they are not associated with the charity Missing People.

We want people affected by ‘missing’ to know that our services are here for them, so we welcome any efforts to promote the helpline. If you are able to do this, we ask that you acknowledge that the charity Missing People is the helpline provider and include our key information (free, confidential).

Our helpline number can only be displayed with appeals for missing people (i.e. to encourage public information and sightings) when the appeal is provided by the police or the charity. This ensures that potentially valuable information gets to the right place.

Missing People does not promote or endorse products to help in the search for missing children, other than its own and those of our partners. Unfortunately, we are unable to reply to individual requests.