Agricultural Wages

The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) for England and Wales, which brought together employers and unions to set wages and conditions for around 150,000 agricultural workers, was abolished on 1 October 2013 by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. General union Unite is challenging its abolition in the European Court of Human Rights.

Instead of having their wages set by a national pay board, agricultural workers in England are now covered by the general NMW regulations. The NMW rates are lower than the agricultural worker rates previously set by the Board.

Although employers have been entitled to pay the NMW rate to new agricultural workers since 1 October 2013, workers who were employed before that date remain entitled to their higher contractual rate of pay, unless and until it is changed by agreement.

The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board continues to function, meeting twice a year to decide the minimum gross wages payable to agricultural workers and setting conditions for holiday and sick pay entitlement in Scotland. The Northern Ireland board also continues unaffected.

In Wales, the Welsh Assembly set up an Agricultural Advisory Panel to preserve the ability to set agricultural wages in Wales (the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Act 2014). The last government launched a Supreme Court challenge arguing that the Welsh Assembly had no power to do take this step, but in July 2014 the challenge was defeated.