NIM29032 - Special cases: Class 1 - mariners: host employer, mariner works in category A, B, C or D waters - meaning of ‘wholly or mainly in category A, B, C or D waters’

Paragraph 9 of Schedule 3 of the Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978

Where a person is employed as a mariner, the host employer regulations can only apply where their duties are performed wholly or mainly in Category A, B, C or D waters. It is not intended that this should be applied as a measure of how much time a mariner spends inside or outside category A, B, C or D waters in any pay period for NICs but rather, whether or not, looking at the employment as a whole, the mariner usually performs their duties inside the waters listed.

Example 1

A mariner is engaged by a UK shipping company through an offshore manning company to work on a ship which operates on a route which is mainly outside UK category A, B, C and D waters. The mariner is weekly paid. The duties are performed outside A, B, C and D waters for three weeks but in the fourth week the ship returns to Portsmouth to pick up passengers. UK NICs are not due because the duties are performed wholly or mainly outside the relevant UK waters. The shipping company is not liable for employer NICs even though the mariner spends most or all of a particular earnings period (a week) within the UK.

Example 2

A mariner is engaged through an offshore manning company to work on a ship. Due to heavy weather the vessel, which usually operates between Newcastle and Bergen in Norway, is laid up for a month in the UK. The mariner stays on board. The Host Employer regulations do not apply as the time spent in the UK is not normally part of the mariner’s pattern of duties. The duties are not performed wholly or mainly in category A, B, C, or D waters.

Example 3

A ship operating between the UK and Morocco detours to a UK port for repairs. This is not ordinarily part of the mariner’s duties and we would not seek employer’s NICs.

Example 4

A mariner is engaged under an offshore manning contract to work on a vessel that works mainly within category C waters in Portsmouth harbour and in category D waters. The vessel occasionally puts to sea outside category D waters but returns to harbour. The duties are performed wholly or mainly within category A, B, C, or D waters and the Host Employer regulations apply. We would seek payment of secondary NICs.

Example 5

A mariner is engaged under an offshore manning contract to work on a ferry that sails between Ramsgate and the Continent. Some duties are performed in category C waters but the majority are performed outside category A, B, C and D waters whilst the vessel is at sea. The Host employer regulations do not apply.