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Government set to abolish wage protection for under-16s working in agriculture

The Government is set to abolish the regulatory body that ensures under-16s with summer jobs on farms and in the countryside get a fair wage.

The Agricultural Wages Board currently sets minimum wage rates so school age workers in rural jobs receive a wage of £2.98 an hour. However the Tory-led Government is planning to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board as part of the Public Bodies Bill currently before Parliament.   Ministers claim that farm workers will be protected by the National Minimum Wage but the minimum wage does not apply to under-16s, therefore it doesn't cover school age children with summer jobs.

Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, Mary Creagh this week challenged Farming Minister, Jim Paice on protection for under-16s working in agriculture. In a Commons exchange she told the minister that under-16s with summer jobs on farms are not covered by the National Minimum Wage and will lose their wage protection if the Agricultural Wages Board is abolished.
 
Mary Creagh MP, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, speaking after the Commons exchange, said:

“Many children benefit from summer jobs in rural areas, but we need to make sure that we have fair wages for farm workers, whatever their age.  

"The Government’s reckless decision to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, in place since 1924, will lead to a race to the bottom for some of our lowest paid workers. It is astonishing that Ministers are unaware that children will have no wage protection from the national minimum wage and have no plan to protect child workers from exploitation.”