Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an estimate of the number of non-qualifying seafarers working on vessels in scope of the Seafarers Wages Act 2023; and when he plans to publish the updated impact assessment.

In 2023, the Government passed the Seafarers’ Wages Act to address this issue. Based on data and assumptions used in the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023 impact assessment (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62e2aa8ed3bf7f75af0923d5/seafarers-wages-impact-assessment.pdf), the Department for Transport estimates that there are 9,400 non-qualifying seafarers working on vessels in scope of the Seafarers Wages Act 2023. A non-qualifying seafarer is defined as all other seafarers on vessels within scope of The Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023, that do not directly benefit from the policy, because it is estimated that they are not currently at risk of being paid below the National Minimum Wage equivalent (NMWe).

An updated version of the impact assessment will be published in due course.