The Agricultural Wages (Wales) Order 2025 (consultation document)

“basic hours” (“oriau sylfaenol”) means a maximum of 39 hours of work per week or any other hours of work agreed under the agricultural worker’s contract or apprenticeship, excluding overtime and guaranteed overtime.

“overtime” (“goramser”) means
(a)    in relation to an agricultural worker who began their employment prior to 1 October 2006, time that is not guaranteed overtime worked by the agricultural worker
(i)    in addition to an 8 hour working day,
(ii)    in addition to the agreed hours of work in their contract,
(iii)    on a public holiday,
(iv)    on a Sunday, or
(v)    in any period commencing on a Sunday and continuing to the following Monday up until the time that worker would normally start their working day;

(b)    in relation to all other agricultural workers, time that is not guaranteed overtime worked by the agricultural worker
(i)    in addition to an 8 hour working day
(ii)    in addition to the agreed hours of work in their contract, or
(iii)    on a public holiday.

“overtime” (“goramser”) means
(1)    in relation to an agricultural worker who began their employment prior to 1 October 2006, time that is not guaranteed overtime worked by the agricultural worker—
(i)    in excess of basic hours of work: or
(ii)    on a public holiday, or
(iii)    on a Sunday; or 
(iv)    in any period commencing on a Sunday and continuing to the following Monday up until the time that worker would normally start their working day;

(b)    in relation to all other agricultural workers, who began their employment on or after 1 October 2006 time that is not guaranteed overtime worked by the agricultural worker
(i)    in excess of basic hours of work; or
(ii)    on a public holiday.
 

(1)    Where an agricultural worker attends a training course with the prior agreement of their employer, the employer must pay
(a)    any fees for the course, and
(b)    any travelling and accommodation expenses incurred by the agricultural worker attending the course.

(2)    An agricultural worker who has been continuously employed at Grade A by the same employer for not less than 30 weeks is deemed to have received the approval of their employer to undertake training with a view to attaining the necessary qualifications required of a Grade B worker.

(3)    Any training undertaken by an agricultural worker in accordance with paragraph (2), is to be paid for by the employer.
 

(1)    Where an agricultural worker attends a training course with the prior agreement of their employer, the employer must pay—
(a)    any fees for the course, and
(b)    any travelling and accommodation expenses incurred by the agricultural worker attending the course.

(2)    An agricultural worker who has been continuously employed at Grade A by the same employer for not less than 30 weeks is deemed to have received the approval of their employer to undertake training with a view to attaining the necessary qualifications required of a Grade B worker.

(3)    Any training undertaken by an agricultural worker in accordance with paragraph (2), is to be paid for by the employer.

(4)    If the agricultural worker ceases employment during the training course or within 12 months of completing the training course the employer may recover the costs outlined in paragraph 1-
(a)    to the extent that they have been funded by the employer and not by a third-party (e.g. by way of grant or other relevant subsidy); and
(b)    provided that the agricultural worker’s contract provides for such recovery of training costs

(5)    The agricultural worker will not be required to repay any training costs where the employer has terminated their employment except where the employer was entitled to and did terminate the employment summarily.

“irregular hours worker” has the meaning given in regulation 15F(1)(a) of the Working Time Regulations 1998.

“Part year worker” has the meaning given by regulation 15(F)(1)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998.

Amount of annual leave for agricultural workers with variable working days employed throughout the annual leave year

1. Where an agricultural worker works their basic hours on a varying number of days each week, the number of days worked each week for the purposes of the Table in Schedule 2, is to be taken as an average of the number of qualifying days worked each week during the period of 52 weeks immediately preceding the commencement of the agricultural worker’s annual leave and that average number of qualifying days must, where appropriate, be rounded to the nearest whole day.
    
2. At the end of the annual leave year the employer must calculate the agricultural worker’s actual entitlement for the purposes of the Table in Schedule 2, based upon the number of qualifying days worked each week, taken as an average of the number of qualifying days worked each week during the annual leave year (i.e. over a period of 52 weeks) and the average number of qualifying days must be, where appropriate, rounded to the nearest whole day.
    
3. If at the end of the annual leave year, the agricultural worker has accrued but untaken holiday entitlement, the agricultural worker is entitled to carry forward any accrued but untaken holiday to the following annual leave year in accordance with article 35(3) of this Order or the agricultural worker and the employer may agree to a payment in lieu of any accrued but untaken holiday in accordance with article 38 of this Order.
    
4. If at the end of the annual leave year, the agricultural worker has taken more holiday days than they were entitled to under this Order, based on the average number of qualifying days worked per week (calculated in accordance with paragraph (2)), the employer is entitled to deduct any pay for holiday days taken in excess of the agricultural worker’s entitlement or, in the alternative, deduct the holiday days taken in excess of the agricultural worker’s entitlement from their entitlement for the following annual leave year (provided any such deduction does not result in the agricultural worker receiving less than their full statutory annual leave entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998).

Amount of annual leave for agricultural workers with variable working days or hours employed throughout the annual leave year

1. Where an agricultural worker works their basic hours on a varying number of days each week, the number of days worked each week for the purposes of the Table in Schedule 2, is to be taken as an average of the number of qualifying days worked each week during the period of 52 weeks immediately preceding the commencement of the agricultural worker’s annual leave and that average number of qualifying days must, where appropriate, be rounded to the nearest whole day. 
    
2. If the agricultural worker is an irregular hours worker or a part year worker their entitlement may be calculated as a percentage of their actual hours worked based on the following calculation:

(total holiday entitlement expressed in weeks set out in Schedule 2 ÷ remaining working weeks in the leave year) x 100

1. An agricultural worker is entitled to be remunerated in respect of each day of annual leave taken by them based on the agricultural worker’s normal weekly pay.
    
2. The amount of holiday pay to which an agricultural worker is entitled under paragraph (1) is to be determined in accordance with regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 1998.
    
3. Any pay due to an agricultural worker under this article must be made not later than the agricultural worker’s last working day before the commencement of the period of annual leave to which the payment relates.

1. An agricultural worker is entitled to be remunerated in respect of each day of annual leave taken by them based on the agricultural worker’s normal weekly pay.
    
2. The amount of holiday pay to which an agricultural worker is entitled under paragraph (1) is to be determined in accordance with regulation 16 or regulation 16A of the Working Time Regulations 1998.
    
3. Irregular hours workers or part year workers may have their holiday pay paid by way of a percentage uplift to the agricultural worker’s remuneration. The percentage applicable for calculating the uplift is determined in accordance with article 32(2).

(1) Subject to the conditions in paragraph (2), an agricultural worker and their employer may agree that the agricultural worker is to receive payment in lieu of a day of the agricultural worker’s annual leave entitlement.

(2) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) the maximum number of days for which an agricultural worker can receive a payment in lieu of annual leave during any annual leave year is prescribed in the Table in Schedule 3;

(b) a written record is to be kept by the employer of any agreement that an agricultural worker will receive payment in lieu of a day’s annual leave for a minimum of 3 years commencing at the end of that annual leave year;

(c) in circumstances where the agricultural worker does not work on a day as agreed in accordance with paragraph (1), that day is to remain part of the agricultural worker’s annual leave entitlement;

(d) payment in lieu of annual leave is to be paid at a rate which comprises both the overtime rate specified in article 12 and holiday pay calculated in accordance with article 36 as if the day for which a payment in lieu of annual leave is made is a day on which the agricultural worker is taking annual leave.

(1) Subject to the conditions in paragraph (2), an agricultural worker and their employer may agree that the agricultural worker is to receive payment in lieu of a day of the agricultural worker’s annual leave entitlement.

(2) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) the maximum number of days for which an agricultural worker can receive a payment in lieu of annual leave during any annual leave year is prescribed in the Table in Schedule 3;

(b) a written record is to be kept by the employer of any agreement that an agricultural worker will receive payment in lieu of a day’s annual leave for a minimum of 3 years commencing at the end of that annual leave year;

(c) in circumstances where the agricultural worker does not work on a day as agreed in accordance with paragraph (1), that day is to remain part of the agricultural worker’s annual leave entitlement;

(d) payment in lieu of annual leave is to be paid at a rate which comprises both the overtime rate specified in article 12 and holiday pay calculated in accordance with article 35 as if the day for which a payment in lieu of annual leave is made is a day on which the agricultural worker is taking annual leave.

(3) The provisions of this article do not prevent an agricultural worker who meets the definitions of irregular hours worker or part year worker from receiving an uplift in their pay in respect of the entirety of their holiday entitlement as set out in Article 35(3).

An agricultural worker has the right to request a period of unpaid leave from their employer. Where the agricultural worker meets the eligibility requirements for parental leave under the Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 or carer’s leave under the Carer’s Leave Regulations 2024 the employer must respond in accordance with the relevant legislation.

“apprenticeship framework” (“fframwaith prentisiaethau”) means any of the current Apprenticeship Frameworks for the agricultural sector in Wales issued by Welsh Government and published by Lantra on or before the date that this Order comes into force, or previous versions of the Apprenticeship Frameworks for the agricultural sector in Wales published by Lantra.

“child” (“plentyn”) has the meaning given in section 80EA of the Employment Rights Act 1996. A child is the child of an agricultural worker if the agricultural worker satisfies the conditions specified in regulation 4(2) of the Parental Bereavement Leave Regulations 2020.

“employment” (“cyflogaeth”) means individuals engaged as employees, workers, agency workers and workers employed by gangmasters and “employed” (“a gyflogir”) and “employer” (“cyflogwr”) are to be construed accordingly;

“employment” (“cyflogaeth”) means individuals engaged as employees, workers, agency workers and workers employed by gangmasters. 

“qualifying days” (“diwrnodau cymwys”) means (other than in article 21) days on which the agricultural worker would normally be required to be available for work including days on which the agricultural worker—
(a)    was taking annual leave,
(b)    was taking bereavement leave,
(c)    was taking statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, or adoption leave, or
(d)    was on a period of sickness absence;

“the national minimum wage” (“isafswm cyflog cenedlaethol”) has the meaning given by section 10 of the Agricultural Sector (Wales) Act 2014

“working time” (“amser gweithio”) has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and for the purposes of this Order includes—
(a)    any time spent travelling by an agricultural worker for the purposes of their employment but does not include time spent commuting between their home and their place of work,
(b)    any period during which an agricultural worker is prevented from carrying out activities or duties in accordance with their contract or their apprenticeship due to bad weather,

and references to “work” (“gwaith”) are to be construed accordingly.

an on-call allowance of a sum which is equivalent to three times the hourly rate of the agricultural worker according to their grade. The on-call allowance is payable in respect of every period the agricultural worker is on-call. The period of an on-call arrangement cannot exceed 24 hours,

2. an on-call allowance of a sum which is equivalent to three times the hourly rate of the agricultural worker according to their grade. The on-call allowance is payable in respect of every period the agricultural worker is on-call. The period of an on-call arrangement must not exceed 24 hours.

Agricultural sick pay is not payable for the first 3 days sickness absence in circumstances where the duration of the sickness absence is less than 14 days.

For the purposes of calculations under this article, where an agricultural worker has been employed by their employer for less than 8 weeks, account must be taken of qualifying hours and qualifying days in the actual number of weeks of the agricultural worker’s employment with their employer.

Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2), if an agricultural worker who is entitled to agricultural sick pay under this Part is paid more agricultural sick pay than their entitlement, their employer may recover the overpayment of such agricultural sick pay by deduction from that agricultural worker’s wages.

For the purposes of paragraph (1), persons in Category A are—

1. a child.

Subject to paragraph (7), where this article applies the amount of an agricultural worker’s entitlement to bereavement leave following the death of a person within Category C is to be calculated according to the following formula

(DWEW / 5) x 2

Subject to paragraph (7), the amount of an agricultural worker’s entitlement to bereavement leave following the death of a person within Category C is to be calculated according to the following formula

(DWEW / 5) x 2

(1)    The amount of pay in respect of bereavement leave following the death of a person in Category A is, for the first four days, or where the agricultural worker works their basic hours on 4 days a week or less the number of days calculated in accordance with article 42(3), to be determined in accordance with the provisions of article 36 as if the first day of the agricultural worker’s bereavement leave was the first day of that worker’s annual leave. For the remainder of any period of bereavement leave the agricultural worker shall be entitled to an amount equivalent to statutory parental bereavement leave pay applicable from time to time.

(2)    Any agricultural bereavement leave pay paid to the agricultural worker in accordance with article 43(1) is inclusive of any statutory parental bereavement leave pay that the agricultural worker may be entitled to for the same period.

(3)    The amount of agricultural bereavement leave pay to which an agricultural worker is entitled to following the death of a person in Category B or C is to be determined in accordance with the provisions in article 36 as if the first day of the agricultural worker’s bereavement leave was the first day of that worker’s annual leave.
 

(1)    The amount of pay in respect of bereavement leave following the death of a person in Category A is, for the first four days, or where the agricultural worker works their basic hours on 4 days a week or less the number of days calculated in accordance with article 42(3), to be determined in accordance with the provisions of article 36 as if the first day of the agricultural worker’s bereavement leave was the first day of that worker’s annual leave. For the remainder of any period of bereavement leave the agricultural worker is entitled to an amount equivalent to statutory parental bereavement leave pay applicable from time to time.

(2)    Any agricultural bereavement leave pay paid to the agricultural worker in accordance with paragraph (1) is inclusive of any statutory parental bereavement leave pay that the agricultural worker may be entitled to for the same period.

(3)    The amount of agricultural bereavement leave pay to which an agricultural worker is entitled to following the death of a person in Category B or C is to be determined in accordance with the provisions in article 36 as if the first day of the agricultural worker’s bereavement leave was the first day of that worker’s annual leave
 

Article 2