Explanatory note

These Regulations implement the Seafarers’ Wages Act 2023 (c. 8) which makes provision in relation to the remuneration of seafarers who do not qualify for the national minimum wage.

The Act requires harbour authorities to ask the operator of a service which enters a UK harbour 120 times or more in a relevant year for a national minimum wage equivalence declaration (“declaration”). The declaration must state either that seafarers on the service who do not qualify for the UK national minimum wage (“NMW”) are being paid at least an equivalent rate to the UK NMW while working in the UK or its territorial waters or that there are no such non-qualifying seafarers. The Act requires that harbour authorities must impose surcharges when operators fail to provide a declaration or where they operate a service inconsistently with a declaration. Subject to certain exceptions, the Act requires harbour authorities to refuse ships providing a service access to their harbour if they impose a surcharge and it is not paid.

The date on which the relevant year begins is provided in regulation 3.

Part 2 sets out the procedural requirements for harbour authorities to carry out their duties under the Act. Regulation 5 sets out the periods within which harbour authorities must request, and operators provide, declarations, and other procedural requirements for declarations.

Regulation 6 makes provision as to the period within which harbour authorities must notify operators about surcharges which have been imposed and the manner and form of that notification. It requires harbour authorities to provide copies of notifications of surcharges to the Secretary of State and regulation 9 requires the Secretary of State to publish information on surcharges which have been imposed. Regulation 7 provides that surcharges must be imposed according to the tariff prescribed in Schedule 2. Regulation 8 provides for the period within which surcharges must be paid and regulation 10 sets out the time limits for making objections to surcharges to the Secretary of State.

Where a surcharge is not paid harbour authorities must inform the Secretary of State (regulation 11) and regulation 12 makes provision for the communication of refusal of access.

Part 3 makes provision for the hourly rates of the NMW equivalent.

Regulation 13 defines the concept of a pay reference period. Regulation 16 sets out how to determine whether the apprenticeship rate applies to a seafarer.

Parts 4 to 6 set out how a seafarer’s remuneration and hourly rates of pay are to be calculated.

Part 4 sets out the calculations to determine whether the NMW equivalent has been paid. Regulation 17 provides that the basic rate is added to the additional rate to determine the hourly rate at which the seafarer is treated as remunerated. If the hourly rate is less than the applicable rate of the NMW equivalent in the pay reference period, the seafarer has not been paid the NMW equivalent. Regulation 18 provides that the basic rate is determined by dividing the basic remuneration in the pay reference period by the total hours of work in the pay reference period. Regulation 19 provides that the additional rate is determined by dividing the additional remuneration in the pay reference period by the hours of UK work in the pay reference period.

Chapter 1 of Part 5 sets out how to determine the basic and additional remuneration for the purposes of the calculations in Part 4. The payments paid by the employer to the seafarer as respects the pay reference period, which form part of the basic and additional remuneration, are set out in Chapter 2. Regulation 24 provides which payments form part of a seafarer’s basic remuneration and regulation 23 which form part of additional remuneration. The reductions which are to be subtracted from the payments to determine the basic and additional remuneration are set out in Chapter 3. Regulations 26 to 28 provide for the apportionment of reductions between basic and additional remuneration. Regulations 29 and 30 set out the circumstances in which deductions or payments for the employer’s or operator’s own use and benefit, deductions or payments as respects a seafarer’s expenditure, and deductions or payments as respects living accommodation, are to be treated as reductions.

Part 6 sets out how to determine the hours of work for the purposes of the calculations in Part 4. The hours of work for determining the basic rate are the hours of salaried hours work (Chapter 5), time work (Chapter 6), or unmeasured work (Chapter 7) worked or treated as worked by the seafarer in the pay reference period. Chapter 8 sets out how to determine the hours of UK work in a pay reference period for the purpose of determining the additional rate in Part 4.

A full impact assessment of the effect that the Act and secondary legislation would have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector was undertaken prior to the passing of the Act. That impact assessment was updated prior to the making of these Regulations and is available from the Department for Transport, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument at www.legislation.gov.uk.