“The farm owners do not treat us very well. They calculate the working hours according to their convenience,” a worker told me last summer. He is one of 99 workers on the Seasonal Worker visa who last year raised issues related to pay on farms with the Worker Support Centre (WSC) and one of 54 who said they were not paid for all the time spent at work.
As outlined in our 2024 Annual Report, WSC received evidence across a range of farms of non-payment of wages for hours worked. Many payslips shown to WSC detailed products picked rather than hours worked, making it very hard to understand hourly pay. Many workers (79) also shared concerns about productivity/picking targets they were expected to meet, which some considered unachievable due to lack of crop to pick or expectations to pick as much as very experienced pickers. We therefore conducted further research into this issue and reviewed 38 payslips shared with us by 18 different workers across 11 farms (8 in Scotland and 3 in England) to understand whether any of the time spent by workers at work outside the actual picking was accounted for. This is what I found:
Workers told us that a lot of their time was spent on tasks for which they were not paid, although they were part of their job. These tasks included travelling (on foot or by transport) between fields or from the office to the fields; collecting trolleys or other equipment needed for picking; and joining meetings with their team or supervisor.
As part of our research into this I recently reviewed
Travel time: Only two payslips from the same farm had time included. However, these were so complex that I was unable to understand how the pay was calculated and if travel time had been paid. Travel time was also included in an additional payslip but only following a complaint.
30 payslips did not have any in-work travel time included, although in 29 out of 30 payslips it was evident that the worker had travelled between fields on the same day.
For 5 payslips it was not possible to ascertain whether on-site travel time had been included; however, in 3 cases the worker had kept a detailed log of the hours worked and these were higher than the hours logged on the payslip.
Other tasks: at the beginning of the working day, workers’ presence is checked, they are allocated the field, they’re told the task and picking targets. Then they go to get the required equipment (like trolleys) and begin to work. At times there are meetings throughout the day for certain tasks, like taking punnets from one place to the other.
34 payslips did not include any time related to these tasks. In 4 payslips it was not possible to ascertain whether any such tasks were included; however, in 3 of these cases, the worker had kept a detailed log of hours worked and these were higher than the hours logged on the payslip.
Picking/productivity rates: 7 of 11 farms’ payslips outlined the amount of product picked, the quantity, and the pay rate for that product. 5 of the 7 payslips included a mixture of picking rates and hours for tasks such as weeding and de-leafing. In my analysis of payslips, I found it extremely difficult if not impossible to understand these payslips.
4 of the 11 farms used hours only. However, for some the accuracy of these had been disputed by workers who had kept an accurate log of hours worked and had recorded more than those included on the payslip.
The lack of regular inspections on farms employing seasonal workers means that these issues are widespread. Together with the Seasonal Worker Interest Group, we have called for an HMRC investigation into the sector. WSC will be meeting the Low Pay Commission in March to discuss these issues in-depth and consider what could be done for workers who are planning their trip to the UK for this year’s season.
It is scandalous that there are people in our labour market who are systematically underpaid and with the picking season just around the corner, WSC wants to see change. The Employment Rights Bill is before Parliament right now and the UK government must keep its promise to ‘Make Work Pay’.