Proposal to Retire the SCV Apprenticeship
In August 2026, Skills England have proposed to retire several maritime apprenticeships including the Small Commercial Vessel (SCV) apprenticeship which has been hugely successful. The proposal is subject to the apprenticeship having low numbers when compared to other mainstream and non-maritime apprenticeships. Skills England are collecting responses as part of their consultation which closes on the 30th September 2026.
You can log your comments with Skills England here
SeaRegs have responded as a training provider, but also as an employer that employs an apprentice under this standard.
Our response to Skills England is;
Dear Sir/Madam,
Proposed retirement of the Small Commercial Vessel Crewmember Level 3 Apprenticeship
I am writing on behalf of SeaRegs Training Ltd to resolutely oppose the proposed retirement of the ST0400 Small Commercial Vessel Crewmember Level 3 Apprenticeship.
As an organisation involved in developing and delivering this apprenticeship, and as an employer who employs an apprentice under this scheme, we see first-hand how it creates skilled maritime professionals, supports sustained local employment and provides employers with a structured and affordable route for developing their future workforce.
Although apprentice numbers may appear modest compared with standards serving larger land-based industries, this reflects the specialist nature of the small commercial vessel and workboat sector rather than any lack of strategic value. SeaRegs recorded an 85% achievement rate in 2025, of the 20 apprentices enrolled on the programme, 17 successfully completed the apprenticeship. Crucially, each successful apprentice can, and many have progressed, into operational roles that support ports, harbours, defence, offshore renewable energy, marine construction, hydrographic surveying, aquaculture, maritime security, autonomous vessels and the wider coastal economy.
SeaRegs already has nine apprentices scheduled to begin ST0400 in October 2026, demonstrating immediate and continuing employer demand for the standard.
The Workboat Association has confirmed that 141 apprentices have completed this apprenticeship over the past six years. In a large land-based sector, 141 fewer apprentices may be absorbed with limited national consequence. In the small commercial vessel sector, the same number represents a substantial share of the future workforce. Retirement risks reducing the future supply of trained seafarers, creating workforce shortages that constrain vessel operations, safe harbour services and support for the wider maritime economy.
The Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy identifies offshore and floating offshore wind as frontier clean-energy industries and maritime capabilities, including autonomous maritime systems, as a frontier defence industry. Skills England’s own 2026 Clean Energy Skills Needs Assessment projects employment in priority clean-energy occupations to grow by 71% between 2025 and 2030. It finds that 59% of projected additional employment will require Level 2 or Level 3 qualifications and identifies apprenticeships at these levels as important routes into the sector[1]. ST0400 provides the operational maritime competence needed to support the vessels on which offshore deployment, maintenance and autonomous operations depend.
SeaRegs apprentices have an average age of 22, so the programme provides a practical route for younger entrants into a maritime workforce facing an ageing demographic.
For someone seeking a career in the small commercial vessel and workboat sector, self-funding the required training would create a significant financial barrier. Stand-alone courses needed to meet Maritime & Coastguard Agency code requirements would cost around £10,000, excluding the diploma valued at £12,000. They also require 53 days of training, before allowing for the sea time and experience needed to meet course prerequisites. Based on the National Living Wage, that training time alone represents approximately £5,389 in lost income, before travel and accommodation costs are considered. Removing the apprenticeship would therefore restrict entry into maritime careers to those who can afford to pay upfront. Without the apprenticeship, new entrants would still face the further challenge of securing employment without the experience employers require; the apprenticeship addresses these barriers by combining funded training, workplace experience and a clear route into employment with direct support from the employer.
The evidence provided by some of the employers below demonstrates the apprenticeship’s practical value.
Cattewater Harbour has supported four apprentices through the programme, three of whom are now employed full-time within the organisation. This is a clear and measurable example of the apprenticeship translating directly into sustained local maritime employment.
Cattewater Harbour also explains:
“As a trust port and statutory authority, Cattewater Harbour, Plymouth needs assurance that training routes are structured, relevant and supported by meaningful workplace experience. This apprenticeship provides that assurance. It also gives people who may not wish to pursue a purely academic route the opportunity to develop a successful and long-term maritime career.”
Cattewater Harbour’s own data underlines the scale and public value of this work. Its 2025 report records just over 1.9 million tonnes of cargo passed through the port, removing 65,000 lorry journeys from the road, while its pilots carried out 764 pilotage movements to bring vessels safely alongside. The apprenticeship is directly supporting that capability: of Cattewater’s five pilot boat coxswains, three are SeaRegs apprenticeship graduates. This demonstrates how the standard converts training into essential operational capacity for a working port.
As the UK advances innovation in areas such as maritime autonomy, established education pathways already support careers in software engineering, naval architecture, coding and cyber security—the disciplines underpinning autonomous collision avoidance and navigation systems. However, early-stage innovators are finding that, although they can attract people with these skills, their vessels must still meet existing maritime regulatory requirements, particularly Workboat Code Edition 3 and its associated manning requirements.
Fugro is developing autonomous vessel technology in this sector and state:
“The Small Commercial Vessel (SCV) apprenticeship standard produces a ready-made solution to this challenge, as those who complete the programme already have the qualifications, knowledge, understanding and proficiency desired by employers to operate both the remotely operated vessels, and the various RIBs, tugs and barges required to support them. While the industry is in its infancy, the numbers needed are admittedly small but projected to grow rapidly over the next five years.”
Teignmouth Harbour Commissioners provide equally compelling evidence. Its Harbourmaster and Chief Executive state:
"The proposed short courses will not provide continuity of training, and I feel dilutes the training ethos in an industry where safety is paramount. The present apprenticeship works and it works because it balances the training and provides time to realise and consolidate that training within the workplace, something which I believe your proposal removes."
This demonstrates that the apprenticeship is not simply supporting entry-level employment. It provides a foundation for career progression, professional responsibility and movement into other strategically important areas of the UK maritime sector.
The apprenticeship is particularly important in coastal communities, where high-quality employment opportunities for young people may be limited. Dart Harbour explains:
“South Devon is an area with limited employment opportunities for young people, and the Marine sector is one sector where we excel. We desperately need a way to take keen young people and turn them into competent mariners who can work safely and effectively on a wide range of craft.”
With ambitious targets set for delivering renewable energy in the UK and the waters surrounding it, Olivia Whittle, Product and Programme Manager at Celtic Sea Power states the impact removal of the apprenticeship will have on its operation:
“Given the strong offshore renewables targets and volume of projects in the pipeline, the need for skilled professionals who can work safely and effectively offshore is critical. Vessel workers will be required across the construction and operational phases of the offshore wind lifecycle and without properly trained professionals, we risk relying on imported labour and project delays”
Steve McKee, Operations Manager of Offshore Turbine Services Ltd writes:
“Within our business, I need people who can work safely and effectively aboard small commercial vessels. Crew members are expected to undertake a wide range of responsibilities including vessel handling, navigation, deck operations, emergency response, maintenance, communication and the safe management of passengers, equipment and cargo. This apprenticeship develops those abilities within a genuine working environment.”
This is precisely the type of regional skills development that the Government’s Industrial Strategy should support. The apprenticeship enables employers to recruit locally, retain talent within coastal communities and create sustainable careers in an industry where the UK already possesses considerable expertise.
For small and medium-sized maritime employers, there is no realistic collection of short courses that offers an equivalent replacement. Short courses can provide individual certificates, but they do not replicate an extended programme combining workplace experience, technical learning, safety-critical competence, professional behaviours and independent assessment. Fragmenting this training would increase costs, reduce consistency and weaken the development pathway for new entrants.
SeaRegs recognises that apprenticeship standards must remain current and demonstrate value. If Skills England considers that changes are required, the appropriate response should be to review, update and actively promote the standard in partnership with employers, training providers, statutory harbour authorities and industry bodies. It should not be retired solely because a specialist occupation produces lower volumes than larger industries.
We therefore urge Skills England to:
Retain the Small Commercial Vessel Crewmember Level 3 Apprenticeship for new starts;
Recognise the apprenticeship’s contribution to defence, clean energy, digital technology, ports and national infrastructure;
Apply a proportionate assessment methodology to specialist and safety-critical apprenticeships, recognising occupational need, strategic importance, employment outcomes and the absence of equivalent provision alongside absolute learner volumes;
Consider its regional employment impact, particularly within coastal communities.
This apprenticeship delivers demonstrable employment outcomes, supports SMEs and statutory harbour authorities, and creates a pipeline of skilled people for nationally important industries. Its retirement would conflict with the wider objective of building a resilient domestic workforce capable of supporting the UK’s maritime economy and Industrial Strategy.
SeaRegs would welcome the opportunity to contribute further evidence and to work constructively with Skills England, industry bodies and employers on the continued development and promotion of the standard.
Yours faithfully,
Ryan Tozer
Managing Director
SeaRegs Training
[1] Skills England, Sector Skills Needs Assessment – Clean Energy, August 2026.
