Maritime workers in pensions boost Andrew Linington, director of campaigns and communications at Nautilus International, the union for maritime workers, said the move was good news for people who work at sea. "We welcome the concept of including seafarers in pension auto-enrolment as traditionally they have been excluded from all sorts of social and welfare provisions," he said. However Mr Linington warned that "the devil is in the detail." He said that working out who will be eligible for a pension could prove tricky for the Government. One concern we have is that it is a very international industry. It is therefore important that the legislation is clear over who is covered," said Mr Linington. He said that fifty per cent of British seafarers work on non-British registered ships, while fifty per cent of seafarers on British ships are not British nationals. "There are lots of potential anomalies that could have huge ramifications on the cost of this," he said. The DWP said that it will use a raft of measures to determine which seafarers are eligible for a pension. It said that eligibility will be based on whether a seafarer would "ordinarily work" in the UK. Measures to determine this will include whether seafarers begin and end their tour of duty in the UK, and whether they pay income tax and National Insurance in the UK. The country in which a ship is registered will not be a relevant factor in determining whether a seafarer on that ship will be eligible for auto-enrolment, the DWP said. The department said that seafarers have been left out of auto-enrolment in the original Pensions Act 2008 due to "potentially complex legal issues" regarding how they should be covered. The proposed amendments to the legislation will also offer pensions to police not under a contract of employment.