Cuts to coastguard payments ‘disgraceful’, MP tells debate
Alistair Carmichael said he was ‘angry’ and ‘offended’ by decision
THE MARITIME Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) decision to stop paying volunteers for attending call-outs and training exercises has been labelled “disgraceful” in Parliament.
Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said he was “angry” and “offended” by the decision, which he called “fundamentally disrespectful” of coastguard volunteers.
And he urged the UK Government to intervene and put a stop to the MCA’s proposed changes.
The MCA has announced plans to stop paying hourly renumeration to coastguard rescue officers for responding to incidents and training, following a landmark court appeal.
Coastguard volunteers currently receive around £11 an hour, but the MCA plans to change these after a Court of Appeal judgement which classed responders as “workers” instead.
Carmichael said the changes “risk hollowing out a crucial emergency service” and leaving islands like Shetland with no volunteer coastguard officers.
“What is being proposed is so fundamentally disrespectful of coastguard rescue officers that, despite that sense of pride and duty, despite the importance of the service that they provide to coastal and island communities, we risk losing many of those who currently give service,” Carmichael said during a debate in Parliament today (Wednesday).
Senior management in the agency – and here I single out the chief executive for particular criticism – are so removed from the service provided in the communities by coastguard rescue officers that they are prepared to see it destroyed.
“Either they do not understand the people that they are paid to manage or else they understand them but are indifferent to the consequences of their actions.
“Either way it is apparent to me that there is a crisis of leadership within the agency and that is what makes this a problem for the minister.”
Shetland and Orkney’s MP said he had spoken with coastguard volunteers in both islands in recent weeks, who had talked with a “sense of pride and duty” about their work.
Carmichael said that no coastguard rescue officers was volunteering for the money, but he said they should still be paid appropriately.
“This is especially true for those who are self-employed but many who are paid by the hour in their day job will lose out financially,” he said.
“That is something that they knew when they signed up but now we are changing that and expecting them to carry on as previously.
“That is not reasonable and it does not respect the contribution that the coastguard rescue officers make.”
Carmichael accused the MCA of handling the changes in a “heavy handed” and “disgraceful” way, and said they had avoided consulting with volunteers.
“For as long as I have known it, the MCA has been a body with its challenges but the situation that is described to me today is of another level.
“To undertake changes of this nature and scale in this way is unacceptable for any public body.
“For one that risks leaving coastal and island communities with no resilience in moments of crisis is not just unacceptable, it is unconscionable.”
The MP has urged the UK Government to speak to the MCA and to pause the changes immediately, and to hold a “proper and meaningful consultation” with communities.
“Pause what is being done, bring in someone from outside the service to examine in short order the way in which these changes have been made and communicated, look at the culture within the service and then work out a way of recognising the work that coastguard rescue officers do in a way that is compliant with the law and respects their efforts,” he added.
A spokesperson for the MCA previously said: “After careful consideration, we are moving the coastguard rescue service to a revised volunteer model, to best protect the future of the service.
“This decision follows a legal judgment, which means we need to change how the service operates. This new model protects choice, flexibility and the ability for people to volunteer alongside their primary employment.
“We deeply value and recognise the significant service coastguard rescue officers provide along our coastline, and we will be supporting them during this transition.
“The coastguard rescue service will continue to maintain a robust, effective search and rescue response, ensuring the highest quality of service and levels of safety.”
The MCA also said volunteers would continue to receive training, equipment, uniforms, personal protective equipment and operational support under the new arrangements.
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