PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Shipping: Minimum Wage (10 February 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish his final guidance to employers in the shipping industry on the National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020; and when he last discussed this matter with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport.

Asked by:
Mike Kane (Labour)

On 1 October 2020, the Government passed the National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 that extended the NMW to include an individual who ordinarily works in the territorial waters of the United Kingdom or in the United Kingdom section of the continental shelf.

The Government’s “Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance has been updated to take account of these changes and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage/calculating-the-minimum-wage#seafarers.

We are currently drafting further guidance on this issue for employers and seafarers. We will publish this in due course, and will consult unions and other stakeholders ahead of publication.

The Department works closely with the Department for Transport on this matter, as evidenced by the joint appearance by ministers from both departments at a recent roundtable organised by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

Answered by:
Paul Scully (Conservative)
22 February 2021