Children’s Hospices across London

What Children’s Hospices across London does

Children's Hospices across London (CHaL) is a registered UK charity (Charity No: 1151317; Company No: 08248052) established in 2012 to coordinate and amplify pediatric palliative care across London and surrounding home counties. It operates as a collaborative umbrella over four member children's hospices — Demelza, Haven House Children's Hospice, Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, and Shooting Star Children's Hospices — delivering specialist symptom management, hospice-at-home care, planned respite/short breaks, end-of-life care, emergency care access, family support, bereavement support, and specialist therapies (music, art, play, physiotherapy, complementary therapies) to children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. The collaborative footprint spans all 33 London boroughs and parts of Hertsmere, West Essex, East Hertfordshire, Kent, and East Sussex, served through seven physical hospice sites and community-based services. CHaL also delivers accredited education and training programmes, including London Neonatal Palliative Care Study Days and GP training, in association with the London Neonatal ODN and NHS partners.

CHaL's core service is care delivery, with no proprietary technology platform disclosed; the underlying infrastructure is a network of clinical sites and trained pediatric palliative care staff. Its business model is donation-funded: approximately 15% of required funding comes from government sources, with the remaining ~85% raised through individual donations (JustGiving, Gift Aid), corporate partnerships (e.g., BlackRock Charity of the Year raised over £850,000), trusts and foundations (e.g., Pears Foundation, Burdett Trust for Nursing), legacy gifts and bequests, and mass-participation fundraising events (London Marathon, Prudential Ride London). All hospice services are provided free at point of use, and CHaL is registered with the UK Fundraising Regulator.

The organisation is governed by a board of trustees composed of the chief executives of the four member hospices, with Sophie Andrews OBE (Chief Executive of Noah's Ark Children's Hospice) serving as CHaL Chair. In 2025 CHaL launched the phased Babies Under 1 Project to strengthen hospice care for infants across London. The organization's stated ambition is to close the gap to the ~6,000 children in Greater London with life-limiting conditions, of whom CHaL currently reaches only around one-third.

Name

Children’s Hospices across London

Legal name

Children's Hospices across London

Website

https://chal.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Children's Hospices across London (CHaL) is a registered UK charity coordinating four children's hospices — Demelza, Haven House, Noah's Ark, and Shooting Star — to deliver pediatric palliative care, respite, end-of-life, and family support to over 2,200 children and families annually across all 33 London boroughs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Services

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Home Health Care Services (8082), Services-Nursing & Personal Care Facilities (8050)

akta.pro primary industry

Pediatric Hospice & Palliative Care (HLADAHAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Residential Hospice / Hospice House (Facility-Based) (HLADAHAC), Pediatric Hospice & Palliative In-Home Care (HSABAFAE), Palliative Care, Hospice & Serious Illness Support (BPAGACAK), Bereavement, Grief & Family Support Services (Hospice-Linked) (HLAFAEAO)

Keywords

• Children's hospice care
• Paediatric palliative care
• Hospice at home services
• Respite and short breaks
• Family bereavement support

Headquarters

HQ city

Barnet

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and charitable giving: Hospice care is provided free of charge to families. CHaL relies on the generosity of supporters, fundraisers, and companies. Individual donations can be made online via JustGiving or by cheque. Regular donor and one-off gift options are available.
2. Government funding: Government sources provide approximately 15% of required funding. The remaining 85% must be raised through charitable donations and fundraising activities.
3. Corporate partnerships: Companies can partner with CHaL through Charity of the Year programmes, employee fundraising, volunteering, and other corporate partnership arrangements.
4. Trusts and foundations: CHaL receives funding from trusts and foundations such as Pears Foundation (unrestricted core funding) and Burdett Trust for Nursing (nurse recruitment project).
5. Legacy gifts and bequests: CHaL encourages supporters to leave a gift in their Will to ensure sustainable funding for future care provision.

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Children's Hospices across London (CHaL) is a registered charity and collaborative network of four children's hospices — Demelza, Haven House Children's Hospice, Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, and Shooting Star Children's Hospices — that deliver free specialist hospice and palliative care services to children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions across London and surrounding counties. The core services include specialist symptom management, Hospice at Home, planned short breaks, end-of-life care, family and bereavement support, and specialist therapies (music, art, play, physiotherapy).

Product overview

Children's Hospices across London (CHaL) is a collaborative network of four children's hospices—Demelza, Haven House Children's Hospice, Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, and Shooting Star Children's Hospices—that work together to improve and increase services offered to children with life-limiting conditions. The core offering is the CHaL collaboration itself, which enables shared knowledge, collective resources, and best practice sharing across member hospices. Supporting this are education and training services, the London Neonatal Palliative Care Study Days program, the Babies Under 1 Project, and comprehensive hospice care services including specialist symptom management, hospice at home, short breaks, end-of-life care, family support, and bereavement services. The organisation also offers fundraising support programs including donation processing, corporate partnerships, trusts and foundations funding, event management, and legacy giving.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hospice Care Services Comprehensive inpatient and day hospice services delivered at member hospices including specialist symptom management, planned short breaks/respite, end-of-life care, and emergency care access. Designed for children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions across all 33 London boroughs and surrounding areas.
• Hospice at Home

Quantifiable outcome

• Supports 2,200+ children and families each year
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AonminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2018Aon, a global risk, retirement and health consulting firm, chose CHaL as a beneficiary of its apprentice programme in 2018. A team of apprentices raised over £1,400 through quiz nights, cake sales, and awareness raising over a three-month period.
• BlackRockcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 September 2014BlackRock, an independent global investment manager, launched its Charity of the Year partnership with CHaL in September 2014, initially as a year-long partnership extended to December 2015. The partnership raised over £850,000, exceeding its £500,000 target. More than 300 BlackRock employees participated in volunteering, and the collaboration introduced several new fundraising and volunteering initiatives, described as one of BlackRock's most successful charity partnerships.
• NU CreativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNU Creative, an award-winning London-based branding and design agency, donated expertise and resources to develop CHaL's brand identity, communications, marketing materials, and website. The agency also hosted a Ball in London to raise funds for CHaL.
• NHScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNoah's Ark Children's Hospice works closely with NHS partners to ensure the best possible care for seriously unwell children of North and Central London. The in-patient unit at The Ark supports NHS provision of end-of-life care and step-up or step-down care from hospital.
• London Neonatal ODN (Operational Delivery Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCHaL works in association with the London Neonatal ODN to hold London Neonatal Palliative Care Study Days at CHaL hospices throughout the year, bringing together neonatal professionals to explore best practice in palliative care, hospice support, and bereavement services.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH): Multi-site UK children's hospice charity serving the East of England with hospice, home care, bereavement, and family support services — directly comparable in scope, beneficiary profile, and fundraising-dependent nonprofit structure.
• Claire House Children's Hospice: North West England children's hospice offering residential, day, and Hospice at Home care plus bereavement support to children with life-limiting conditions — closely comparable service portfolio and beneficiary base.
• Helen & Douglas House: Oxford-based children's hospice providing specialist palliative, respite, and end-of-life care along with family support — directly comparable hospice-led operating model for life-limited children.
• Julia's House Children's Hospice: UK children's hospice charity operating in Dorset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, providing clinical care, respite, and family support in hospice and home settings — directly comparable hospice and Hospice at Home model.
• Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People: East Midlands children's hospice delivering hospice-at-home, family support, and end-of-life care to life-limited children and their families — directly comparable mission and service mix.
• Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS): Scotland's national children's hospice charity providing hospice, home care, and family support services across multiple sites and through community teams — direct geographic/national-counterpart peer with very similar mission and operating model.
• Acorns Children's Hospice: UK children's hospice charity operating three hospice sites across the West Midlands and South West, providing similar palliative, respite, end-of-life, and bereavement services to children with life-limiting conditions — directly comparable multi-site operating model.
• Martin House Hospice Care for Children and Young People: Yorkshire-based children's hospice providing palliative, respite, and bereavement care to life-limited children and families — directly comparable in operating model, beneficiary focus, and voluntary-funding mix.

Broad incumbents

• Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Charity: Major UK children's hospital charity funding paediatric research, equipment, and family support — a broader incumbent in the paediatric health space with overlapping beneficiary population and shared NHS-aligned mission.
• Together for Short Lives: UK-wide charity and membership body for children's palliative care — a broader incumbent that works across the sector CHaL operates in, providing advocacy, training, and sector-wide standards rather than direct service delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CHaLHospices

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries4 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 Children’s Hospices across London