P&O told to pay staff a ‘proper wage’ or face ban from every port in the UK

Ministers have ordered P&O Ferries to back down from its ‘sweatshop pay’ policy and provide its staff with a ‘proper wage’ or be banned from all UK ports. 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will be writing to P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite today to instruct him to make a U-turn on his controversial decision to sack all 800 staff members and replace them with underpaid agency workers, or face a nationwide ban from UK ports.

His letter will reportedly warn of new measures to close a ‘loophole’ exploited by P&O to circumvent national minimum wage rates.

A source at the Department for Transport said: “Brexit allows us full control of the prized ferry routes operating between the UK and the Continent and Ireland.

“There will be no room on UK ferry routes for firms that think they can get away with sweatshop pay.”

MPs were told at a joint committee last week that the company is paying its new agency recruits an average hourly rate of pay £5.50, plus pension contributions.

Read More: P&O boss reveals his salary while he’s grilled by MPs over making 800 staff redundant

The current minimum wage is £8.91 per hour for those over the age of twenty-three, and is set to rise to £9.50 next month.

At the committee, Hebblethwaite admitted to MPs that he is paid a basic salary of £325,000 a year and, in addition, qualifies for two bonus schemes.

He also confirmed the average sacked seafarer earned £36,000 a year and will get £46,500 in compensation.

When asked whether he could live on £5.50 an hour, Hebblethwaite did not answer.

The ferry operator, which was bought by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World in 2019, sparked outrage earlier this month when it told its 800-strong workforce that their jobs had been terminated with immediate effect in a virtual Zoom meeting.

In its statement, P&O cited significant year-on-year losses and taking decisions to ensure its ‘survival’ as an explanation to its controversial decision.