Welcome to the Online Seafarer Survey, being run by Frazer-Nash Consultancy on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
What are we asking of you?
The Online Seafarer Survey is being run to understand the experiences of UK and eligible UK-resident EU seafarers over the course of their careers. It covers those in cadetships through to experienced seafarers, and those who are now in other careers. If you are in one of the following groups, we wish to hear from you:
- Current UK cadet – if you are a UK cadet at any stage of your training for a Certificate of Competency (CoC) at a UK educational institution
- Former UK cadet – if you were a cadet but did not complete your training and did not gain a Certificate of Competency
- A current UK seafarer – if you are a current UK seafarer of any grade holding a Certificate of Competency
- A former UK seafarer – if you were a seafarer and currently hold, or previously held, a Certificate of Competency or were a rating
- A UK rating – currently working at sea as a rating.
- Those who considered, but did not pursue, a seafaring career.
The survey should take around 15 minutes to complete.
If you are not at sea, you are welcome to access the survey via this QR code:
Why are we running this survey?
We are performing a review of the effectiveness of funding systems for UK seafarer training. Funding routes such as the Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme and others are being assessed to better understand their impacts on seafarer recruitment, training, retention, and the benefit to the wider UK economy.
Since the previous SMarT report in 2016 there have been several significant changes, both domestic and geopolitical in nature, that will likely impact the environment for training and education of seafarers in the UK. Our previous report tackled the identification of barriers to entry for mariner training, alternative approaches, the value for money and impacts of funding. While these are still important considerations, we understand that this evidence base does not currently reflect the reality of mariner training in the UK.
As a result, our current study aims to provide a refresh and update, and we are contacting stakeholders to help inform our research.
Your insights are invaluable to us, and we appreciate your time completing this survey.
What is Support for Maritime Training (SMarT)?
The SMarT scheme supports training courses approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB) for the training of officers, officer cadets and ratings. SMarT funding is claimed on behalf of trainees by sponsoring companies enrolled in the scheme.
The SMarT scheme provides funds that cover up to 50% of training costs paid directly to sponsoring companies, subject to eligibility requirements, for the following:
- Officer cadets following approved training leading to a II/1, III/1 or III/6 Certificate of Competency (CoC)
- Junior officer trainees following approved training leading to a II/2, III/2 or III/6 Certificate of Competency
- Shore-based elements for Ratings Training
- Ratings to Officer Conversion Training
- Graduate Engineer leading to a III/1 Certificate of Competency
- ECDIS/HV/HELM courses where applicable
More information on SMarT can be found on: gov.uk
Privacy
All response forms will be kept within the Frazer-Nash and MCA project teams only and will not be made public. The data provided will be anonymised and combined with other responses to create an overall view of the information gathered.
Section 7 of the survey that asks questions about your background is optional but will allow us to understand some of the potential barriers to a seafaring career should you choose to answer them.
Contact details
Should you have any questions or queries, you can contact the project team at Frazer-Nash:
- Frazer-Nash Project Manager: Keir Gravil email: k.gravil@fnc.co.uk
- Frazer-Nash Deputy Project Manager: Aleta Morgan email: a.morgan@fnc.co.uk
- MCA Project Lead: Jane Owens
