Agricultural workers





The Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales (AWB), which brought together employers and unions to set wages and conditions for around 150,000 agricultural workers, was abolished on 1 October 2013. The abolition was hard-fought by the trade union movement, including a judicial challenge by general union Unite before the European Court of Human Rights based on the human right to bargain collectively under Article 11 (Unite v The UK, application 65397/13, 3 May 2016). 



As a result of the abolition of the AWB, agricultural workers in England are now covered by the NMW regulations. Less than a year after the abolition, a Unite survey of agricultural wages found that 44% of respondents had lost out on a pay rise. In addition, whereas the AWB oversaw other terms and conditions, the NMW is just a wage rate. 




The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) continues to meet twice a year to decide the minimum wages of Scottish agricultural workers and to set conditions for holiday and sick pay. The Scottish government confirmed that the board will be retained after a review showed that its abolition would drive down wages. The Northern Ireland board continues unaffected. 



In Wales, wages are set following consultation by the Agricultural Advisory Panel for Wales, a statutory body created under the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Act 2014. The Panel meets three times a year to consult on and set minimum pay rates and other terms and conditions in Wales. It includes trade union representatives. The Westminster government challenged the Welsh Assembly’s power to set up its own agricultural wages board, pursuing the challenge as far as the Supreme Court, where it was defeated.