Group-transfer polymerisation (GTP) has been used to synthesise a range of statistical and block methacrylate copolymers containing a small fraction (10-30 mol%) of ionic residues. More specifically, n-butyl methacrylate (nBuMA) and benzyl methacrylate (BzMA) were copolymerised using GTP. The precursor copolymers were then deprotected via catalytic hydrogenolysis to selectively remove the benzyl groups, giving a range of statistical and block copolymers containing carboxylic acid groups. Similarly, copolymerisation of nBuMA with 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) directly yielded copolymers containing tertiary amine groups. Zwitterionic and cationic derivatives of these copolymers were obtained by betainisation and quaternisation of the DMAEMA residues, respectively. Gel permeation chromatography was used to determine copolymer molecular weights and polydispersities, while proton n.m.r. spectroscopy was used to assess their composition. In all cases, the final copolymers were near-monodisperse (M-w/M-n < 1.15) and good molecular weight control was achieved.