£4.87 an hour | Legal loophole sees P&O Ferries staff paid less than half of UK minimum wage

Shipping company P&O Ferries has been paying some crew members less than half the UK minimum wage, thanks to a legal loophole that was supposed to be axed two years ago in the wake of a previous P&O scandal, according to reports.

Analysis of worker payslips conducted by The Guardian and ITV news found that agency workers at the company have reportedly been earning as little as £4.87 an hour. By comparison, the last time the UK minimum wage was lower was in 2004, when it sat at £4.85 an hour.

P&O Ferries have been manned by agency staff for the past two years after bosses controversially sacked 800 staff without notice in March 2022. The new crews are primarily sourced from countries such as India, the Philippines and Malaysia, The Guardian reports, and are thought to be working 12 hour shifts for seven days a week.

The UK minimum wage rises to £11.44 an hour from next month (April 2024), however this doesn’t apply to maritime workers who are employed by overseas firms and work on foreign ships in international waters.