Recommendation 17: HM Coastguard and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency should establish a protocol for referrals by HM Coastguard to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s regulatory compliance investigations team, identifying the threshold for making a referral on a potential breach by a vessel of the duty to render assistance, the information to be communicated and how the numbers of referrals are to be annually reported. HMCG accepts the importance of a protocol for making referrals to the Regulatory Compliance and Investigations team (RCIT) and revised its SOPs in October 2023 to enshrine this practice. This update reminded all staff of the legal requirement for a vessel to proceed with all speed to the assistance of the persons in distress (unless the master considers it unreasonable or unnecessary to do so). The SOP states that network commanders must inform RCIT at the earliest opportunity when vessels near to a distress position do not respond to a mayday relay broadcast. Failure to respond is considered during operational reviews by HMCG, with referrals made when the threshold is reached. This takes into consideration vessels that are not required to respond - for example, if it would be unsafe to do so, if they would not be able to assist, or not able to assist in time. HMCG would take action to understand why a nearby vessel that appeared able to support did not respond, and this would result in a referral if no adequate reason were evident. It is rare for vessels not to comply. HMCG will develop a process to maintain awareness of referrals and support data collection.