Agricultural wages: guide for workers and employers - twenty eighth edition

7. Miscellaneous Conditions (Part 7)

Standby Duty (Article 22)

A worker is entitled to be paid two hours of pay at the appropriate rate specified on page 3 of this guide for each period of standby duty undertaken. The definition of standby duty is given in article 22(2) of the Order, but for convenience this can be summarised as time when a worker is required to be readily available for work on a day when they do not normally work or on a day which has been agreed as a holiday or special holiday. The requirement for a worker to be readily available for work after completing their normal contracted hours is also classified as a standby period.

If a worker on standby is required to work, then they must be paid for each hour actually worked in addition to the time spent on standby. The amount of payment will be determined by the status of the day, which means that:

• if the day was a day on which the worker did not normally work or, the day was a day on which the worker had completed their normal contracted hours, then the hours worked would be paid at not less than their minimum overtime rate (see article 9 of the Order and Section 3 of this guidance note);
• if the day had been agreed by the worker and the employer as a holiday, then the minimum payment for the work done would be the same as it would be for work on a holiday when the worker was not on standby (see article 10(10) of the Order and Section 4 of this guidance note);
• if the day was one of the special holidays (Christmas or New Year) or a day in lieu of one of the special holidays, then payment would be made in accordance with the rules for work carried out on such days (see article 14 of the Order and Section 4 of this guidance note).

Can Pension Contributions still be made? (Article 23)

The employer will comply with the employer pension duties in respect of the employee in accordance with Part I of the Pensions Act 2008.

What about Health and Safety Training? (Article 24 and 25)

The new Order continues to give workers a right to time off to attend health and safety training, and it also gives employers the right to insist that workers attend such courses.

The employer and worker may agree that no training is required, but either party can insist on attendance at training courses up to a total of two days in any year. The Order does not, of course, stop employers and workers from agreeing that more than two days training should be undertaken in a year.

The costs of attendance at such training courses will be paid by the employer. These costs include:

• the cost of course fees etc.; and
• the reasonable cost of travel, meals and accommodation necessary to enable the worker to attend the course.

Is the Dog Allowance still payable? (Article 26)

If it is necessary for a worker to keep and feed a dog (or dogs) to enable them to do their job, then they must be paid a sum of not less than £9.36 per week for each dog, up to a maximum of 4 dogs. This sum is non-taxable. The payment of the dog allowance is mandatory.

Who is responsible for weather protective clothing? (Article 27)

It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that a worker is provided with the weather protective clothing which they need to do their job.

This means that, where required, the employer must provide wellington boots, PVC coat, leggings and gloves.

It is the responsibility of the employer to repair or replace clothing which is no longer fit for use. However, it is the responsibility of the worker to repair or replace any items which they have damaged or lost as a result of their own carelessness or fault of the worker.

Who needs to keep time sheets? (Article 28)

The employer must provide the worker with a time sheet on which they can record the hours they have worked each day. These must be kept regardless of how the worker is paid (eg. Weekly, Salary, SIA etc).

The worker must complete time sheets and give them to their employer. The employer must retain these time sheets for at least three years.

There will be no requirement to keep time sheets if the employer uses an automatic system, such as a time clock, to record hours worked.

Examples of two types of time sheet (one covering a week and the other covering a month) are shown at Appendix 1. Other styles may be used as long as they can provide all of the necessary information.

When should wages be paid? (Article 29)

Article 29 of the Order requires that all basic pay and overtime should be paid as soon as possible after the hours have been worked. This generally means that all normal hours worked should be paid for at the end of the week or month, or whatever the normal pay period is. (Some payments may have to be carried over into the next accounting period, e.g. where overtime is worked shortly before pay day and cannot be processed in time.)

Where a worker is contracted to work varying hours from week to week, or where variable levels of overtime are worked, the employer is not allowed to average out payments across two or more pay periods unless the employment is covered by the stable income arrangement (SIA). Likewise, occasional lump sum payments cannot be regarded as a substitute for prompt and proper payment.

Holiday pay should generally be paid in advance. Other elements of pay should be paid as early as possible after there is sufficient information available to calculate it.

Workers contracted to work under the SIA should be paid at the intervals agreed in the contract.

Pay Slips

From 6 April 2019, employers paying a worker by the hour must itemise the number of hours paid for in a worker’s payslip. The hours can be shown either as a single total or broken down into separate figures for different types of work or different types of pay.

Where a worker has fixed hours, then there is no requirement to provide a breakdown. The only hours that need to be itemised are hours which are variable, for example, if a salaried employee works variable overtime with additional pay at an hourly rate, then the number of hours overtime will need to be shown.