farmworkers

How many rural authorities know the number of agricultural workers in their area and the contribution they make to their economies? This article provides some food for thought on that score. It tells us:

Property partnership Strutt & Parker is recommending a 1.4% increase for farmworker wages this year, as a guide for employers in England.

Since the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board in 2013, English farm worker pay rates are no longer covered by a statutory annual review. However, most employers still use an October date for pay reviews.

Minimum wage levels for farmworkers are still set by an official pay review body in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The recommendation from Strutt & Parker would raise the standard worker’s rate (grade 2) to £7.50/hour, mirroring the national living wage, and increase the craftsman’s rate (grade 4) to £8.85/hour, with other pay grades rising accordingly.

George Chichester, farming consultant for Strutt & Parker, said the business had made the recommendation to clients based on several factors, including the approach taken by the remaining agricultural wages boards, the level of recent public sector pay awards, rising pension contributions and the rate of inflation.