Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to prevent businesses advertising vacancies for seafarers in British territorial waters at rates of pay less than the minimum wage, in breach of the National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) Order 1999.

The Government is clear that anyone entitled to be paid the minimum wage should receive it. In 2020, the Government legislated to ensure that seafarers who are working in the UK territorial sea are entitled to be paid the minimum wage, regardless of where they ordinarily work or where their ship is registered. This means that most individuals working in our waters are entitled to be paid at least the National Living Wage or relevant National Minimum Wage rate for their age.

An individual’s entitlement to the minimum wage is not dependent on the rates of pay included in a job advert or job offer that they accepted. If an individual is not being paid at least minimum wage when they are entitled to it, they should complain to HMRC using the online form on GOV.UK. HMRC will consider ever complaint they receive and since 2015 they have returned over £100 million in unpaid wages to 1 million workers.