Section 2: Key facts

Types and numbers of licences

20. The Trust issues a considerable number of different types of licences – 28 in all. Annex 3 shows the complete list. The system has become so complicated that the Trust no longer publishes a list of boat licence prices on its website. Instead, it provides an online calculator which invites enquirers to submit the details of their vessel and then informs them about the relevant licence price. For our purposes, it is simplest to regard licences as falling into two broad categories – pleasure boat/leisure licences and business licences.
21. There is a key distinction in leisure licences between those for boats with recognised home moorings¹ and those without. Holders of licences without home moorings, commonly referred to as continuous cruisers, are required by the legislation to demonstrate that they use their boats for “bona fide navigation”. The legislation does not, however, define what this means. It is interpreted by the Trust as requiring changing moorings at least every 14 days and showing a pattern of continued movement throughout the year. Boaters with home moorings are required to follow the same rules when away from their home moorings. Licence holders without home moorings currently pay higher licence fees than those with home moorings². Leisure licences can be either for all canals and rivers for which the Trust is responsible or for river use only. Rivers Only licences benefit from a discount of 40 per cent relative to standard licences. Leisure boaters can obtain a Gold licence allowing them to use both Trust and Environment Agency owned waterways at a lower cost than if they held two separate licences³. The standard licence terminates when a boat is sold or transferred. Refunds are issued for full, unused months of 12-month and 6-month licences, subject to an administrative charge. The new owner must buy a new licence. Rivers Only licences can be transferred⁴.
22. Leisure boat owners with boats which are moored on residential sites for which planning permission has been granted can hold Houseboat Certificates instead of licences. There are currently only 43 holders of Houseboat Certificates. The certificates currently cost the same as standard licences.

23. Historic boats, broadly defined as those whose basic structure is more than 50 years old, receive a discount of 10 per cent. There are currently 386 boats whose owners receive this discount. There are also discounts of 50 per cent for portable powered boats and unpowered butties, discounts of 25 per cent for boats on waterways which are not connected to the main network like the Monmouth and Brecon Canal⁵, and for electric boats. There are separate arrangements for work boats.
24. Business licences are required by those using their boats for business, for example as a floating café, letting out as accommodation or for holiday hires, removing waste, selling gas, fuel or other items to other boaters or, in a few cases, carrying freight. Applicants are required to submit an operational plan describing how the licences will be used. In total, there are currently 3,000 business licences issued for a wide variety of different uses (Figure 3 overleaf).

25. We have received surprisingly few representations about business licences. We have not therefore considered them in any depth. We note, however, that both hire boat operators and those providing other commercial services are important parts of the waterways ecosystem and make a meaningful contribution to its economy. Hire boats provide a first introduction to the waterways for many people, as well as offering continuing opportunities for experienced boaters without a boat of their own. Boatbased businesses provide valuable services to other boaters and towpath users. They can, or could, also help to reduce pressures on Trust services by providing alternative ways of meeting boaters’ needs, for example for waste disposal. Maintaining an environment in which boating businesses can continue to operate commercially should therefore be an important consideration for the Trust.
26. All licences can be issued for twelve-, six- or three-month periods⁶. Three-month licences are only available to boats with a home mooring. The Trust has the power to issue leisure licences for up to three years but does not currently use it. Licences for longer periods might reduce the Trust’s administrative costs and the administrative burden on the licence holder. They would, however, also reduce the number of automatic touchpoints between the Trust and licence holders, which might be considered a disadvantage.
27. The Trust’s private boat licensing income, excluding business boating licensing income, was £29.7 million in 2024-25, equivalent to around 16 per cent of its total charitable expenditure in that year⁷. Income from business licences was £3.5million (Figure 4).

Unlicensed boats

28. The Trust estimates that there are currently just over 35,000 boats on its waterways, much the same as in the previous year⁸. Not all have valid licences. The Trust has told us it believes that currently around 10 per cent of boats are unlicensed⁹, equivalent to foregone revenue of over £4 million (assuming an average licence fee of £1,200). From the data we have been provided by the Trust, it is statistically more likely that boats without home moorings will not possess valid licences. Around 16 per cent of boats without home moorings are thought to be unlicensed compared with about 8 per cent of those with home moorings. Some boats may, however, not be covered by licences because the Trust has declined to issue one rather than as the result of the boater deliberately avoiding payment. We have been told that, at the time of writing, there are around 826 boats in this category. They consist almost entirely of boats which previously had continuous cruiser licences but whose owners were refused renewal on the grounds that they had failed to show the required pattern of movement.
29. There has been a steady increase in estimated numbers of unlicensed boats during the last 5 years (Figure 5). The largest proportion of unlicensed boats, currently just over 15 per cent of the total, is in the Trust’s London and South-East Region¹⁰. ¹¹

Boats without home moorings

30. The number of boats without home moorings is now around 8,700, just under a quarter of all boats on the Trust’s network. The number almost doubled between 2012 and 2024. It increased by a further 12 per cent between 2024 and 2025. Part of the 2025 increase may be because a new validation process was introduced in 2024 when a higher licence fee was introduced for those without home moorings. The validation process revealed a number of boats whose owners had not been able to obtain formal confirmation of their mooring from their provider¹². There is a heavy concentration of boats without home moorings in London, where boats without a home mooring account for more than half of all boats there.
31. We are aware of the suggestion that the Trust may have underestimated the number of boaters without home moorings on the network before 2012. Interesting though this may be to waterways historians, we do not think it bears directly on our task of recommending changes to the current licensing system to improve its operation now and in the future.

Boaters using their boats as their primary place of residence

32. There has been a steady increase in the number of boaters using their boat as their primary place of residence, whether on a permanent mooring or not. According to the Trust, around 35 per cent of boaters currently live on their boats.[^24]

Charitable objects

33. In common with other charities, the Trust is required to operate in a manner which furthers its charitable objects and to use its assets (in this case the waterways) for the “public benefit”. Public benefit means that the delivery of the charitable objects should benefit the public generally or at least a broad section of it; and, conversely, that any benefit to an individual should be “incidental”. The Trust’s objects are set out in Annex 4. There may be room for discussion about the meaning and implication of some of the Trust’s objects like “to promote sustainable development in the vicinity of any inland waterway for the benefit of the public, in particular by the improvement of the conditions of life in socially and economically disadvantaged communities in such vicinity”. We do not, however, interpret the existing objects as extending to housing responsibilities on the waterways.
34. It is possible to change objects with the consent of the Charity Commission. Any new objects must, however, still be charitable and still be for public benefit. The Charity Commission is unlikely to agree to changes to the objects of any charity which would change its basic nature or conflict with other of its objects.
35. It is important to note that in pursuing public benefit the Trust should use its property (i.e. the waterways) in a way which benefits all its beneficiaries (i.e. all users of the waterways) rather than any one group. It should also act prudently – implying charging fees at a level necessary to help achieve its charitable objects. It is a matter for the Trust to decide what this means, subject to compliance with charity law.