What Havens Hospices does

Havens Hospices is a UK-registered charity (Charity Number: 1022119, Company Number: 2805007) founded in 1983, operating two specialist palliative care hospices in Essex: Little Havens, a children's hospice in Benfleet opened in 1998, and Fair Havens, an adult hospice in Southend rebuilt in February 2020 as a £17.2 million, 16-bedroom facility that doubled prior inpatient capacity. The organisation delivers free hospice care to patients with complex or incurable conditions through inpatient units (23 beds across both sites), community care-at-home services, and wellbeing programmes including counselling, complementary therapy, and bereavement support, accepting referrals via NHS SystmOne and self-referral. It is the only adult hospice serving South East Essex and pilots the UK's first dedicated Electronic Palliative Care Coordination System (EPaCCS) for babies, children and young people in partnership with the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System.

The revenue model is diversified and donation-led: the charity states it must raise over £208,000 per week to maintain services, annualising to roughly £10.8 million, and is funded through individual donations, legacies (which paid for the care of 1 in 10 patients in the most recent reported year), a network of 20+ charity shops across Essex with online resale on eBay/Depop/Amazon and the havenshospices.shop storefront, a weekly lottery, trust and foundation grants (including a 19-year relationship with the Oak Foundation and a Smile of Hope trust partnership since 2013), a tiered Corporate Membership programme (£100-£300/month), Pay for a Day sponsorships at £7,217 per hospice per day, monthly room sponsorships (£10-£1,000), a fee-paying Lightwell Counselling service at £50 per session, and voluntary donations routed from six private health insurers (Aviva, AXA, Bupa, Vitality, WPA and others).

Operationally, Havens Hospices employs 251-500 staff and operates from the Fair Havens headquarters in Southend-on-Sea, with the Little Havens site in Benfleet and an education/training academy co-located at the headquarters. The organisation holds CQC 'Good' ratings at both hospices, won the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2019, and is governed as a company limited by guarantee with a Chief Executive (Steve Smith) and a Board of Trustees. Its technology stack is largely third-party SaaS — SystmOne for clinical referrals, Blackbaud for marketing forms, JustGiving for online fundraising, and Miru for the virtual 3D tour — with the in-development children's EPaCCS as the principal proprietary technology initiative.

Name

Havens Hospices

Legal name

Havens Hospices

Website

https://havenshospices.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Havens Hospices is a UK-registered charity operating two free specialist palliative care hospices in Essex — Little Havens (children, Benfleet) and Fair Havens (adults, Southend) — funded by donations, legacies, 20+ charity shops, lottery, grants, and corporate partnerships, serving patients with complex or incurable conditions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hospice & Palliative Care Services

NAICS

Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (62412), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Nursing & Personal Care Facilities (8050), Services-Home Health Care Services (8082), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Residential Hospice / Hospice House (Facility-Based) (HLADAHAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Home Hospice Agencies (HLAFAEAC), Bereavement, Grief & Family Support Services (Hospice-Linked) (HLAFAEAO), Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Hospice-Affiliated/Independent) (HLADAHAL), Palliative Care, Hospice & Serious Illness Support (BPAGACAK)

Keywords

• Palliative care services
• Children's hospice care
• Adult hospice care
• Bereavement counselling
• Charity retail fundraising

Headquarters

HQ city

Benfleet

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: One-off and regular donations from individuals supporting hospice care. Donation options include general donations, in-memory donations, and specific care programme support.
2. Legacies and Wills: Gifts left in wills by supporters. Last year legacies helped pay for care of 1 in 10 patients at Havens Hospices.
3. Lottery: Weekly lottery programme (havenshospiceslottery.org.uk) with prizes including £1,000 weekly jackpot. Active canvassing team promoting lottery membership.
4. Charity Retail: Network of 20+ charity shops across Essex selling donated goods. Online presence through eBay, Depop, Amazon. Includes specialist electrical goods shop in Prittlewell and Re:Loved branded outlets.
5. Trusts, Foundations and Grants: Funding from charitable trusts and foundations. Includes 19-year multi-year funding relationship with Oak Foundation for both Little Havens and Fair Havens. Employee nominated grants and Donor Advised Funds (DAF) support.
6. Pay for a Day: Sponsorship programme where individuals or groups raise £7,217 to cover one day's hospice care costs. Donors can choose a specific date meaningful to them.
7. Room Sponsorship: Monthly sponsorship programme for Little Havens bedrooms at £10-£1,000 per month (covering 1%-100% of monthly £1,000 room costs).
8. Lightwell Counselling: Fee-paying bereavement counselling service at £50 per session. Open to anyone aged 18+ not necessarily under hospice care. Profits support free hospice services.
9. Private Health Insurance Donations: Requesting voluntary donations from private health insurers on behalf of patients. Works with insurers including Aviva, AXA, Bupa, Vitality, WPA and others.
10. Corporate Partnerships: Corporate membership programme at Silver (£100/month), Gold (£200/month), and Platinum (£300/month) tiers. Includes volunteering days, events sponsorship, and Charity of the Year partnerships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Havens Hospices provides free specialist palliative and hospice care for adults and children living with complex or incurable conditions across Essex. It operates two hospice sites (Little Havens children's hospice in Benfleet and Fair Havens adult hospice in Southend), a hospice-at-home community nursing service, day therapy (Fair Havens Hub), wellbeing and bereavement support, and a fee-paying private bereavement counselling service (Lightwell). The charity must raise over £208,000 weekly to sustain these services.

Product overview

Havens Hospices operates as a dual-hospice charity offering specialist palliative care through two distinct sub-brands: Little Havens (children's hospice, opened 1998) serving babies, children and young people with complex/incurable conditions from Essex; and Fair Havens (adult hospice, opened 1983, rebuilt 2020) serving adults in Southend, Castle Point and Rochford. Each hospice provides inpatient units, community care-at-home services, and wellbeing teams offering complementary therapies, counselling, and bereavement support. The organization also operates Lightwell Counselling as a fee-paying private bereavement service. Fundraising products include Sponsor a Room, Pay for a Day, Gifts of Kindness virtual shop, and a weekly lottery. A notable innovation is the UK's first Children's Palliative Care Register using EPaCCS for electronic care coordination. All clinical care is provided free of charge, funded primarily through charitable donations requiring over £208,000 weekly.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Little Havens Children's Hospice Children's hospice providing free specialist palliative and supportive care for babies, children and young people living with complex or incurable conditions from Essex and surrounding boroughs. Includes day stays, overnight respite, emergency stays, end-of-life care, bereavement counselling, and family accommodation.
• Fair Havens Adult Hospice (In-Patient Unit) Adult hospice providing free inpatient care, symptom management, respite and end-of-life care for adults living with incurable conditions in Southend, Castle Point and Rochford. The In-Patient Unit offers 16 private rooms with ensuites and direct patio access.
• Fair Havens Hub (Day Therapy) Rehabilitative palliative day service offering occupational therapy, physiotherapy, practical support programmes, therapeutic activities and community signposting for adults with life-limiting conditions.
• Community Care (Hospice at Home) Hospice-at-home nursing and supportive care for both adults and children with life-limiting conditions in their own homes, including planned and urgent respite, post-discharge support, end-of-life care, and 24-hour phone advice across Essex catchment areas.
• Wellbeing Care Life-enhancing therapies and family support services including social work, counselling, carers support, complementary therapies, creative art therapies, spiritual care, and bereavement support for patients and families of both hospices.
• Lightwell Bereavement Counselling Private fee-paying one-to-one bereavement counselling for adults aged 18+ in Essex, delivered in-person at Fair Havens, online or by phone at £50 per session with up to eight sessions. Self-referral, no GP required. Profits support free hospice services.
• Havens Hospices Charity Retail Network Network of 20+ charity shops across Essex selling donated goods, with online presence through eBay, Depop, Amazon and the havenshospices.shop e-commerce site. Includes a specialist electrical goods shop in Prittlewell and Re:Loved branded outlets.
• Corporate Partnership & Membership Programme Corporate CSR and sponsorship programme with tiered monthly membership (Silver £100, Gold £200, Platinum £300), Charity of the Year partnerships, corporate volunteering days, Race4Business events, and event sponsorship opportunities for UK businesses.
• Havens Hospices Weekly Lottery Weekly lottery programme promoted via a dedicated canvassing team, with a £1,000 weekly jackpot and additional prizes; funds raised support free hospice care.
• Pay for a Day Sponsorship Sponsorship programme where individuals, groups or businesses fund one full day of hospice care at Fair Havens or Little Havens at £7,217 per hospice per day, often in memory of a loved one on a date meaningful to the donor.
• Sponsor a Room Monthly room sponsorship programme for Little Havens bedrooms at £10–£1,000 per month, covering 1%–100% of the £1,000 monthly cost per woodland-animal-themed bedroom.
• Gifts of Kindness (Virtual Gift Shop) Virtual gift shop offering donations in increments from £5 to £64 that fund specific hospice services such as craft materials, meals, care hours, and complementary therapy sessions.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 25,000 adults cared for since Fair Havens opened in 1983
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mid and South Essex Integrated Care SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS integrated care system partnership for healthcare coordination. Havens Hospices is leading UK's first pilot of Electronic Palliative Care Coordination System (EPaCCS) for children in this region.
• NHS Trusts and GP PracticescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHealthcare provider referral network. Referrals accepted via NHS systems including SystmOne. Patients must be registered with GP in specific postcodes to access services.
• Utilize (Corporate Membership Founding Partner)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerFounding partner of Corporate Membership Programme. Long-term corporate supporter engaging employees in fundraising and volunteering activities.
• Rotary Club of Rayleigh MillminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCommunity organization hosting annual Drag Me To The Mill fundraiser for Fair Havens Hospice.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Trinity Hospice: South-east London hospice offering inpatient, community, and bereavement services. Directly comparable as a free-to-patient hospice charity combining clinical palliative care with extensive retail and lottery fundraising operations.
• St Christopher's Hospice: London-based hospice widely regarded as the founder of the modern hospice movement, providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care. Comparable in clinical service breadth (inpatient, home care, bereavement), training function, and fundraising-driven charity structure.
• Farleigh Hospice: Adult hospice serving Chelmsford and mid-Essex, providing inpatient, community, and bereavement services. Highly comparable as a fellow Essex-based hospice charity with similar free-at-point-of-care model, NHS referral pathways, and reliance on community fundraising and charity retail.
• East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH): Regional children's hospice charity serving Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. Highly relevant peer to Little Havens for paediatric palliative care delivery, family support, and hospice-at-home models funded through community donations.
• Helen & Douglas House: Oxford-based children's and young adult hospice. Comparable to Little Havens as a specialist paediatric hospice delivering respite, end-of-life, and bereavement care funded through charitable donations, with a similar facility-and-community dual model.

Regional players

• Pilgrims Hospices: East Kent hospice charity operating three inpatient sites and community services. Comparable operating model and South East England footprint, though focused on a different region, making it a useful structural benchmark rather than direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Sue Ryder: National charitable provider of hospice and neurological care across the UK. Overlaps with Havens Hospices on palliative and bereavement services but at significantly greater scale and broader geographic reach, with a similar retail and donations-led income model.
• Marie Curie: UK-wide charity providing hospice care at home, inpatient hospices, and nursing support. Comparable in palliative and end-of-life service delivery and in heavy reliance on voluntary income, though operating at much larger national scale.
• Macmillan Cancer Support: National charity supporting people living with cancer, including palliative care information and financial support. Comparable as a UK fundraising-led health charity but operating at much broader scale with no direct inpatient hospice provision.

Others

• Together for Short Lives: UK-wide charity for children with life-limiting conditions and their families, focused on advocacy, information, and sector support rather than direct care. Adjacent to Havens Hospices' Little Havens children's hospice mission and a relevant ecosystem partner for paediatric palliative policy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/HavensHospices
• Facebookfacebook.com/havenshospices
• Instagraminstagram.com/havenshospicesshops

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Havens Hospices