The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has scrapped controversial plans to strip coastguard officers of their hourly pay following a widespread backlash from rescue officers, MPs, and unions.
Coastguards have welcomed a ‘huge win’ in their campaign to stop their pay being cut.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency [MCA] will halt its plan which would see coastguard officers stripped of their hourly pay for attending incidents and training exercises.
It comes as more than half of the coastguards in Yorkshire and Humberside said they would be forced to reduce their hours or stop volunteering altogether if the scheme to make coastguards volunteers rather than paid workers went ahead.
It has been opposed by dozens of councils, unions, MPs, and members of the public.
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, July 16, Maritime Minister and MP for Selby, Keir Mather said:
“Plans to move to the expenses-only volunteer model in September will not go ahead, and current arrangements will remain in place.”
The decision follows a concerted campaign by CROs, members of parliament and the GMB to press the Government to pause the plan.
Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said:
“I welcome the minister’s intervention to end a summer of uncertainty.
“The Maritime and Coastguard Agency made a poor and rushed decision following a court ruling which, if implemented, would have decimated our cherished 999 emergency service.
“I’ve met Coastguard Rescue Officers across my constituency and I pledged I would fight for them. They deserve a management who values them.”
She added:
“Having previously met MCA Chief Executive Virginia McVea, who vigorously defended the MCA’s decision and inferred it was supported by the majority of CROs, I would suggest Ms McVea should now review her position in the light of this debacle.”
Nicola Savage, GMB National Officer, said:
“This is a richly deserved win for GMB’s coastguards, who took their campaign across the UK and into the corridors of power.
“It was a scandal that these brave, life-saving workers would have their pay cut.
“But Ministers have listened and done the right thing.”
On Wednesday, July 15, Ms Hume convened and co-chaired an urgent parliamentary evidence session in the House of Commons as the co-chair of the All-Party Party Parliamentary Group for Coastal Communities.
The session was attended by fourteen Coastguard Rescue Officers from across the country, including from Whitby and Ravenscar, as well as by Minister Mather’s Personal Private Secretary, several MPs from all parties and the GMB union.
Ms Hume added:
“I want to pay tribute to the service CROs give to our coastal communities in Scarborough, Whitby and the villages and let them know that my work on their behalf has just started.
“The Government has announced it will explore options for how CROs can be properly recognised and rewarded in the future, and I will play my part in these discussions.”
Also on Wednesday, bosses at North Yorkshire Council confirmed they would lobby Mr Mather over the controversial proposal, which followed a Court of Appeal ruling that had confirmed that people who were serving as coastguard rescue officers had been doing so as workers, rather than volunteers.
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