Guidance

Employment rights for offshore renewable workers

Published 4 November 2026

Factsheet relating to the Energy Independence Bill.

Summary

This measure will expand workers’ rights and protections, closing loopholes and ending gaps in protections for offshore workers in clean energy.

Offshore renewable and low carbon workers beyond the UK’s territorial sea (that is over 12 nautical miles from the shoreline) are not included in the definition of ‘offshore employment’ in current employment law. This means there are discrepancies between the rights of offshore oil and gas workers and certain offshore renewable and low carbon workers beyond the UK’s territorial waters.

This measure will amend employment legislation to give the government powers to extend employment rights to offshore renewable and low carbon workers in the UK Exclusive Economic Zone. After the Bill is passed, and following targeted engagement with key stakeholders, secondary legislation will be laid to extend existing employment rights - such as protection from unfair dismissal and access to the minimum wage- to those workers. Raising the employment standards for these workers supports government’s commitment to good-quality clean energy jobs and backs industry to invest in the UK workforce.

Why are we legislating?

Current gaps in protections for offshore renewable energy and low carbon workers beyond UK territorial waters mean that these workers are not entitled to the same employment rights as offshore oil and gas workers working on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and, in certain circumstances, the foreign sector of the continental shelf (FSCS). This creates a risk that workers could be employed on terms that are below UK standards.

The UK government committed to address these gaps in the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, published October 2025. The plan sets out the ambition for clean energy jobs to be high quality - well-paid, safe, and with good working conditions. Legislating to improve parity of employment rights will help secure the pipeline of skilled workers needed for the clean energy transition and safeguard energy security.

What are the government’s objectives with this measure?  

Extending employment rights to offshore renewable and low-carbon workers strengthens energy security, boosts economic growth and helps create good, well-paid jobs across the UK.

Significant growth in the offshore clean energy sector is required to deliver homegrown clean energy we control, with the offshore wind sector alone expected to triple in size by 2030. Making employment standards fairer and more consistent across the offshore energy system, this legislation will ensure clean energy jobs are always good jobs. This helps build a resilient domestic workforce, reducing reliance on unstable international markets, and providing security and stability for both family and national finances.

How will this measure deliver these objectives?  

This measure will amend legislative definitions to include offshore renewable and low carbon workers in the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the following legislation:

• Section 201 of Employment Rights Act 1996
• Section 287 of Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
• Section 42 of National Minimum Wage Act 1998

This measure will also make it possible to apply Working Time Regulations 1998 (‘WTR 1998’) to workers in offshore energy through secondary legislation.

In the near term, this will reduce the risk of worker exploitation, improve job standards and make offshore clean energy roles more attractive, thus supporting workforce needed to deliver the clean energy transition. This measure will positively impact households as worker pay, and therefore job satisfaction, health and wellbeing of workers, improves.

In the longer term, the measure is expected to support the growth of a skilled domestic offshore clean energy workforce. This will help deliver the skilled pipeline of workers needed to deliver clean homegrown power and protect families against global fossil fuel markets.