Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether seafarers working on ferry services between ports in the south of England and ports in (a) Jersey and (b) Guernsey will be eligible for protections under the policy entitled Nine-point plan for seafarers – our commitments to protect seafarers, published 6 July 2022.

The Seafarers’ Wages Bill is a key strand in the Nine-Pont Plan for seafarer protections and will ensure that seafarers with close ties to the UK, working aboard services in scope of the Bill and do not qualify for the UK National Minimum Wage, are paid a fair wage.

It will apply to services calling at UK ports from a place outside the UK at least once every 72 hours, which equates to 120 times a year, and access to UK ports will be conditional on operators demonstrating that they will be paying at least an equivalent to the UK National Minimum Wage to their seafarers whilst in UK waters. This would include services calling from Jersey and Guernsey whilst in UK territorial waters, provided that they meet the frequency threshold.

We have also begun engaging with Jersey and Guernsey on how we can improve seafarer welfare and to explore the creation of minimum wage equivalent corridors.