The Merchant Shipping (Maintenance of Seamen's Dependants) Regulations 1972
Under section 17 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970 a responsible authority, usually a local authority or the Supplementary Benefits Commission, is empowered to seek an order of a magistrates' court to recover out of a seaman's wages, a sum which cannot be subject to an attachment of earnings order, in respect of expenses incurred by the authority in the maintenance of his dependants. These Regulations make provisions about the notice which the authority may serve under the section on the seaman's employer requiring him to retain a proportion of the seaman's wages which may be the subject of an order of the court, the calculation of those wages and the expenses in respect of which a notice may be served.