Maritime charity column: mayday call from the Seafarers Advice and Information Line, by Michael Edwards, SAIL manager

Michael Edwards has been at SAIL's helm for almost 3 years. He leads a team of specialist advisers who work with seafarers every day. Here, he discusses the decline in the number of merchant seafarers contacting SAIL and what is being done to address this.

CHARITY COLUMN

SAIL is the only Citizens Advice service dedicated to seafarers and their families living in the UK. We work exclusively with the seafaring community, including Merchant Navy (MN) seafarers who are working and those who are no longer at sea. Last year we advised 1,140 seafarers and their families and secured over £1.4million in unclaimed benefits and grants on their behalf. That's a significant amount of money and it makes a huge difference.

MN numbers are declining

Historically about a third of our clients have come from the Merchant Navy sector, but the numbers have declined recently and last year we saw only 197 MN seafarers. We don't really know why this is the case, but we're looking at ways to address it, including reaching out more to the merchant seafarer communities themselves and the organisations that support them. We want to raise awareness of our free, comprehensive advice service and the difference we can make, so using existing channels and finding new ones is a vital element of our strategy.

Collaborative working

We already work closely with other maritime organisations, such as Sailors' Children's Society, The Nautical Institute, Stella Maris and the Merchant Navy Welfare Board, referring clients to one another where our services are complementary, raising awareness and making connections with others in the sector.

And we're actively seeking new partners. We recently met with Vector 24 to talk about how we can complement the service they provide to Scottish merchant seafarers and their families, by linking in with their drivers and supporting their new caseworkers.

We believe that partnerships such as these, where we work collaboratively for the benefit of clients, are a vital way of spreading the word about SAIL and ensuring that we all focus on what we do best. Please help us spread the word or contact me if you're interested in working together.

To contact SAIL call Freephone 0800 160 1842 or go to www.sailine.org.uk or email Mr Edwards at: Michael.edwards@sailine.org.uk

 

The Maritime Charity Column is a regular feature in the Nautilus Telegraph. Submissions are invited from a range of organisations by the Telegraph editor.