Coastguard volunteers welcome payments u-turn
Kingsbridge Coastguard Rescue TeamVolunteer coastguard rescue officers have welcomed a government decision to abandon plans to stop paying them for training and call-outs.
Maritime minister Keir Mather announced volunteer coastguards would continue receiving payments beyond September while ministers work on a long-term solution following a court ruling over their employment status.
The announcement came after weeks of campaigning by coastguard volunteers, unions and MPs.
Sarah Walker, a coastguard rescue officer based at Tamar Coastguard Rescue Team in south-east Cornwall, described the decision as "absolutely" a step forward.
"What has happened today is really what we asked for," Walker added.
Coastguard rescue officers are officially volunteers but can claim about £11 an hour for call-outs, training and maintenance work.
A minimum payment of £33, equivalent to three hours, can be claimed even if an incident is resolved before that.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency had planned to replace the system with an expenses-only model from September after a Court of Appeal ruling in January found a former coastguard rescue officer was a worker rather than a volunteer while receiving payment.
'Smooths the wheels'
Walker said volunteers had feared the loss of payments would hurt frontline teams.
"The biggest theme really was that it was going to affect the retention within our teams," she said.
"We could potentially lose members of our teams or that people wouldn't be able to turn out.
"Although it's a small amount of remuneration, it smooths the wheels, it literally keeps our cars on the roads."
She also said volunteers had also been concerned about losing experienced officers with years of local knowledge.
"We feel supported and that there is hope and that we may be protected going forwards," she said.
Kingsbridge Coastguard Rescue TeamTruro and Falmouth Labour MP Jayne Kirkham described it as "really good news" for coastal communities.
Anna Gelderd, Labour MP for South East Cornwall, said she had called for a pause to allow all options to be considered, while North Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire described the move as "a very welcome U-turn".
Walker said volunteers would continue with a planned campaign event on Monday because "this is just a pause" and there was still more work to do to secure a permanent solution.
An MCA spokesperson said the organisation had "heard the strength of feeling" and had "agreed with ministers to pause plans to move to a revised volunteer model".
"The work of the service is vital to keeping people safe, and this pause gives us the time to engage extensively with our hard-working officers, understand more deeply the potential impact of any changes, and ensure their views help inform the decisions we take on how to shape the service going forward," they said.