August 21, 2024
Maritime Charities Group wants seafarer views on future welfare
The Maritime Charities Group (MCG) is delighted to announce the launch of a major new survey as part of ongoing research on the demographic profile of the UK’s Merchant Navy and fishing fleet.
The newly launched 20-minute survey is aimed at seafarers (UK Nationals only) with responses intended to help shape the future of welfare support offered by national maritime welfare charities. This survey responds to the multitude of challenges faced by the UK’s seafarers, from the cost-of-living crisis and the global pandemic to the impact of wars in the Red and the Black seas, mass redundancies and a crewing crisis.
It will provide valuable evidence for the UK’s maritime welfare charities, giving fresh insights into the welfare needs of UK seafarers and their dependents. It will help them tailor existing services such as ship visiting and other port-based welfare services, pastoral support, retirement accommodation, helplines and advice on housing and welfare benefits for the next generation.
The survey gives UK nationals an unprecedented opportunity to have their voices heard on a range of issues at sea, in port, and at home. By taking part, seafarers can express their concerns and shape the future of maritime welfare charity services for all in need of extra support and help in times of trouble. It is open for responses from UK working and former seafarers in all non-military sectors of seafaring, their dependents, and providers of maritime welfare services for UK seafarers. Participants are also sought to take part in one-to-one interviews and/or larger focus groups, and all shared information is strictly anonymised and confidential.
'We’re very pleased to launch this major new survey, and it’s crucial we hear the voices of seafarers, their dependents and the maritime charities that provide vital welfare services. This research will help maritime welfare charities plan for the future, based on what seafarers really feel and what they need. We encourage shipowners, unions and other industry stakeholders to help share this survey with their members and crews!' - MCG Chair, Dr Tim Slingsby
The survey, which will be open until 30th Sept 2024 is a comparable study to that being carried out with the UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Marines by Greenwich Hospital and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, in partnership with the RAF Benevolent Fund.
About Maritime Charities Group
The Maritime Charities Group (MCG) is an alliance of 8 collaborating funders of maritime welfare services for UK seafarers.
The MCG fosters collaboration across the maritime welfare charity sector. It does this by sharing information, commissioning research, supporting the education and welfare of seafarers and their families and by the promotion of best practice within the maritime welfare charity sector.
Our vision is for a maritime welfare charity sector that works collaboratively to achieve the greatest impact for seafarers and their families.
For more information about MCG and its members go to www.maritimecharitiesgroup.org
About the Research
- The original commissioning specification can be seen here.
- Information about the research team from Rothesay Consulting can be seen here.
- In 2015 MCG published a report of research conducted by the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University on the demographic profile of UK seafarers which drew on earlier work conducted in 2007, available here.
- The new MCG study will focus on the UK’s Merchant Navy and fishing fleet and their dependants and will include both working and former seafarers.
- A comparable study is being carried out with the UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Marines communities by Greenwich Hospital and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, in partnership with the RAF Benevolent Fund. Together these two pieces of work will provide the sector with the data it needs to plan future services.
