"P&O Ferries has paid some crew less than half UK minimum wage"

P&O Ferries, which controversially sacked about 800 workers in 2022, has paid some crew members less than half the UK minimum wage thanks to an ongoing legal loophole the British government promised to close two years ago.

Agency workers at the company, which is owned by the Dubai-based DP World, have in some cases been earning about £4.87 an hour – even lower than the £5.15 an hour the company suggested was its lowest pay rate – an analysis of recent payslips conducted by the Guardian and ITV News suggests.

The low-cost crew, who replaced many of the workers P&O axed two years ago, are being hired from countries including India, the Philippines and Malaysia.

They are understood to be working 12-hour daily shifts, without a day off for months at a time, on the Dover to Calais route. One worker described the whole experience as like being in “jail”.

The UK minimum wage now stands at £10.42 an hour and will rise to £11.44 an hour from April – but the rates do not apply to maritime workers employed by an overseas agency who work on foreign-registered ships in international waters...

A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said: “We always pay at least the minimum wage required by national and international law.

“In addition to wages we provide all meals, modern accommodation, gym and sauna, and travel to and from their home country including flights for international workers coming on to our ships.

“We provide an industry-leading support package and work hard to ensure their welfare, wellbeing and mental health are properly cared for.

“The tough but necessary changes we made to the business mean that P&O Ferries and 2,200 jobs have been saved. In 2023 we transported goods worth hundreds of millions of pounds between the UK and Europe; and carried 3.5 million tourists across the Channel on our modern fleet.”