The main objective of the coastguard service is to develop and enforce high standards of marine safety and to minimise accidents and loss of life amongst sea-farers and coastal users. Its main responsibilities are marine safety, marine emergencies and marine pollution.

Fulfilling these involves 24 hour monitoring of the areas under its control, responding to emergency situations, enforcing regulations and undertaking educational activities. Coastguards have their own ships and rescue teams but can also request assistance from other agencies such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Watch officers are involved in all aspects of the work. They assist in staffing operational centres and may be involved in cliff rescues, coastal searches and boat work.

Watch assistants provide support in an administrative role and in the operations room. As well as general administration, their duties include monitoring equipment, receiving and handling 999 calls, updating logs and providing information to the public.

Auxiliary coastguards are volunteers who are trained to respond to coastal incidents and are paid for the hours they work.

Hours and Environment

Coastguard staff are uniformed civil servants, employed at one of the 18 maritime rescue centres around the coast, or at the headquarters in Southampton.

They usually work 42 hours a week, on a shift system over seven days. Administration staff usually work five days a week, Monday to Friday. It is possible to work part-time.

Indoor work is carried out in busy operational centres equipped with a range of communications equipment such as radio and satellite tracking devices.

Outdoor work may involve going to sea in all weathers, on patrol or rescue missions and being involved in cliff and coastal search and rescue.

Officers must be prepared to work anywhere in the UK.

Skills and Interests

To be a coastguard you should:

• have an interest in the sea and in all maritime issues
• be able to understand and use modern communications equipment
• have the ability to assess situations quickly and make sound decisions
• have a clear speaking voice
• be physically fit
• have the ability to work as part of a team
• have leadership ability as you may have to take charge in an emergency situation.

Entry

Most entrants to the service join as watch assistants. For this you need good literacy and numeracy skills, an interest in maritime affairs and the potential to use VDU, keyboard and communications equipment. You must be able to work under pressure and in emergency situations.

These posts are recruited locally and you should contact the District Operations Manager at your nearest coastguard station for details.

Watch officers need extensive experience of the sea. This could be from the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force or the Merchant Navy, or from other seagoing activities involving boat work and navigation. Experience as an auxiliary coastguard is also useful.

Watch officers are also expected to have a good standard of numeracy and literacy. It is helpful to have GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) in English and maths, or equivalent.

For those without formal qualifications, competency tests can be arranged by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), under whose jurisdiction the work falls.

Auxiliary coastguards must be at least 16, with an interest in, and concern for, safety at sea. The posts are recruited locally.

High standards of physical fitness, hearing and eyesight are essential.

Posts are open to UK and EU nationals and Commonwealth citizens. Commonwealth citizens must be free of any restrictions to reside and take up employment in the UK.

Training

All recruits are given initial training at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Centre at Highcliffe, Dorset.

Following this they join a programme which combines classroom-based, self-study and on-the-job training.

Auxiliary coastguards are required to undertake regular training.

Opportunities

All coastguards are employed by the MCA and there are over 1000 regular coastguard staff located around the British coastline. These are supported by over 3,000 auxiliary coastguards. Vacancies are advertised in the local and national press.

Opportunities for promotion are from coastguard watch assistant to watch officer and then to watch manager or section manager and beyond.

Annual Income

Figures are intended as a guideline only.

Newly recruited coastguard watch assistants earn around £12,000 a year.
This can rise to around £15,000 a year.
Watch officers can earn around £20,000 a year.

Shift allowances are paid.

Further information

Human Resources Recruitment Team
Bay 3/19 Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG
Tel: 023 8032 9308