The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has updated its guidance on crew agreements for yachts outside the Maritime Labour Convention employment-agreement regime.
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has issued updated guidance covering crew agreements on ships and yachts that fall outside the Maritime Labour Convention requirement for individual seafarer employment agreements. Published on 25 August 2026, MGN 474 (M) Amendment 2 replaces the previous amendment and refreshes the framework that applies to vessels still required to use crew agreements.
For yacht owners, managers and captains, one of the most relevant provisions concerns privately operated pleasure yachts carrying paid crew on voyages beyond the British Isles. The amendment does not create a new yacht employment rule; the underlying requirement for qualifying pleasure vessels was already present in the earlier guidance, while Amendment 2 updates and clarifies how that framework should be applied.
Most UK-registered sea-going vessels operating commercially fall within the Maritime Labour Convention framework and must provide individual seafarers with seafarer employment agreements. Pleasure vessels that are not operating commercially generally sit outside those MLC employment-agreement requirements, but that does not automatically remove every formal crew-agreement obligation.
The MCA states that a pleasure vessel must continue to maintain a crew agreement when it undertakes a voyage other than a coastal voyage and more than four members of its crew receive wages for their employment. For this purpose, a coastal voyage is one between places in the British Isles, including the Republic of Ireland, or a voyage departing and returning to such a place without calling anywhere outside those islands.
MGN 474 sets out the documentation forming a compliant crew agreement, including the vessel and employer details, contractual provisions, crew lists and information relating to young persons where applicable. The employment records cover matters such as dates of engagement, capacity, wages and certification details, together with the signatures required when crew members join and leave the vessel.
The MCA also makes clear that wages cannot simply be recorded as “as agreed” without an identifiable rate or supporting agreement from which that rate can be established. Standard crew agreements are valid for 12 months, with associated crew lists and official documentation following the applicable retention and submission requirements.
Yacht operators are not necessarily restricted to the standard MCA form, because employers can seek approval for modified or non-standard crew agreements. Proposed arrangements need to provide seafarers with protections comparable to the standard framework, and the guidance sets out the process for submitting those agreements to the MCA before they are intended to be used.
Vessels outside the MLC regime can also seek a ship-specific exemption from the crew-agreement regulations where individual seafarer employment agreements provide equivalent protection. The updated guidance is therefore relevant not only to yachts currently using crew agreements, but also to operators relying on exemptions or legacy employment arrangements that may need to be reviewed.
Large private yachts can occupy an unusual regulatory position because they may not be commercially operated while still employing substantial professional crews. Registration, voyage pattern, the number of paid crew and the vessel’s operating status can therefore determine whether the MLC employment-agreement framework or the separate crew-agreement regime applies.
For UK-registered private yachts operating internationally, Amendment 2 provides a useful point at which owners, managers and captains can confirm that crew documentation, voyage limits and employment arrangements still match the vessel’s actual regulatory status. The practical message is not that a new obligation appeared on 25 August, but that the MCA has refreshed the guidance governing an existing obligation that can still apply to privately operated yachts with professional paid crew.