Work and Life in the UK Farms

Change Language

  • English
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Lithuanian
  • Latvian
  • Slovak

Key Points

  • • Work is manual and physically demanding
  • • Work is paid by piece rate
  • • You will live in the farm camp
  • • You must follow farm's rules and regulations

This section deals with different aspects of working and living in a UK farm as a seasonal worker. It is intended to familiarise the applicant with areas like the type of work they might be doing, how they are going to be paid, the hours they are going to work, what their accommodation is going to be like and other relevant information about income tax and so on.

However it aims to give only general information and it is important to understand that more specific information about a job that might be offered to you it will be included in the document called ‘ Statement of Employment Particulars’ which will be part of the application pack.

Sections:

Location of Work

Place of work can be located anywhere in the UK, but most likely it will be in farms or similar businesses in England and Scotland.

Type of Work

Generally speaking the work offered is manual and unskilled. It can be in fruit picking like strawberries or raspberries, or top fruit like apples and cherries, or vegetables and salads, or horticulture like flowers and plants. The chances are that most likely it will be fruit picking up to 2/3 of it and the rest 1/3 are spread evenly between vegetables and horticulture work.

The work can be outdoors in the fields or in protected areas like glasshouses.

Nature of Work

It is mentioned previously that the work will be mainly manual. In this context it is important to understand that this work is physically demanding. You are expected to stay for instance for hours in a field working at a fast speed in order to achieve the piece rate determined by the farmer. Obviously you will have your daily breaks and weekly breaks to recover your energies, but the work in itself is challenging.

But it is not all too bad. Most of the challenge is during the first 2-3 weeks especially for people who are not used to this kind of work. After this initial period the body starts adjusting, the mind gets used to new habits, you will start earning money, making new friends and the more positive aspects of life and work in the farm become evident.

In order to fit the role of a farm worker someone must be prepared to comply with the rules and regulations, keep their promises when they say they will do something, tolerate easily the working environment, give 100 percent to the work without wasting any time with too many questions, follow the health and safety procedures, stay with the employer until the end of the agreement, follow the manager’s instructions, be ready to work longer hours on certain days and work weekends and be able to work at speed and maintain work quality. It will be a good idea that applicants spend a few minutes trying to test themselves against the points mentioned above to see how they match. It will be time well spent to avoid any disappointments later.

About Work Placement and Hours of Work

The work offered is usually seasonal and last 3-4 months and sometimes more. Some farms need people constantly all year round.

Hours of work are usually 39 hours in a working week which lasts 5-6 days. There will be days when for different reasons like the weather, the farm might not be able to offer work and it will be weeks when due to warm weather the produce will be ready for harvesting so you will be required to work longer hours and more days than in a usual week. In other words this is not a Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm hours scenario. You have to be flexible.

There are situations when due to unexpected conditions like crop failure or bad weather the farm where you are assigned might not have any work to offer. Normally you will be offered to go and work in another farm through the transfer system. However there might be occasions when it will be impossible to offer you any alternative work.

Payment of Work

The work is paid by piece rate which is a payment system that is based on how many kg of produce you harvest during an hour. The farmer will set every morning a piece of rate for the day which depends on many factors like how much produce is on the field at that particular time, the market price, the demand from the supermarket and so on. It is a system applied by most farms that is meant to incentivise the worker to work faster and consequently earn more.

However the farm is obliged by law to pay workers a minimum wage, so whatever a worker earns an hour by using the piece rate system should at least match the minimum wage or be above it. Most of the workers pick enough produce in one hour that is paid more than the minimum wage although there is a minority that do not earn enough. In these cases the farm has to pay these people extra money for work they have not done so that their earnings are equal to the minimum wage. It is important to understand that the farm can do this for a short period of time to give a chance to the worker to get used to working faster and get more training. Should this fail the farm will have no alternative but to let go those who underachieve constantly.

Farm Camp

The accommodation will be provided by the employer in the farm camp. It will be mainly of caravan type that takes 4-6 people in one unit. There will be cooking and washing facilities and some leisure ones like TV room, internet access, pools, bicycles and football areas. The facilities change from farm to farm and are not the same everywhere.

There are weekly charges for using the accommodation and the other facilities and farms might charge a deposit refundable in the end to ensure that everyone looks after the accommodation properly and does not cause damages.

The weekly charges normally are; 32-00 for the accommodation, around 5 – 00 for gas or electricity usage and 100-00 refundable deposit. These are all approximate figures.

The farm provides transport to the nearest town and supermarkets several times a week to assist the people in the farm camp with their shopping.

Health and Safety

This is an important area that you should take very seriously. Your employer will train you how to work safely and conform to rules of health and safety. However the overriding principle during all the time you work and live in a farm should be that health and safety of yourself and other people comes before anyone and anything else and should never be neglected.

Leisure and Activities

By all means life in the farm it is not work, work and only work. The people in these farm camps are mainly young students so there is a lot of socializing, sport activities and partying in the farm and the nearest towns to it.

The farms have a long tradition of welcoming students and people from other countries and a lot of them organize their own parties, barbecues and coach trips to historical places in the area.

A farm camp it is not a boring place to be.

Farm Rules and Regulations

Like every other business farms have their own strict rules and regulations and when you consider that they have to run farm camps with 5 to 100 plus people as well it becomes very important that these rules are followed. Make no mistake into thinking that in the UK farms you can do as you please, by not turning up for work because you fell asleep, not turning up on time for work after breaks, leave for days to visit friends and family without telling anyone.

You will be given before you start work all the necessary documents where the rules of working and living in the farm are explained and farmhand.jobs will ensure that you get the important ones in your own language to avoid any confusion.

In all these farms there is a structured line of management who is there to train and manage you. It is very important that you try to solve any issues with the people in the farm because they are the best ones to deal with them.

Communication between people, who are not using their first language, can be tricky at the best of times and we appreciate that. Still it is for the best, that the applicant keeps the lines of communication open at all times with the management at the farm for every request, clarification or issue that they might have. If you do that, you stand a better chance of succeeding because they are the best people to offer support.

Benefits of Working and Living in a Farm

You will have a chance to work in the UK agriculture sector that is one of the most highly developed sectors in the world for its reliance on science and good management practices.

You will toughen up mentally and physically and whatever profession you follow later in life you will be better prepared to deal with difficulties.

You will have a good chance to earn decent money if you work hard at it.

You will get a chance to socialize with young people from different nationalities who are vibrant, intelligent and fun loving.

You will get a chance to visit the UK and some of its greatest heritage and improve your knowledge of the English language.

Relevant UK Legislation

Most of the aspects of applying to work in the UK farms and working there are well covered by the UK legislation and below is a brief description of the most relevant ones to the applicant.

GLA Licence

Every organisation providing labour to the UK farms whether they are in the UK or in Europe must have a licence issued by UK authorities. The UK authorities who issue the licence are the GLA. They will check very carefully each company to see whether they comply with certain standards before they issue a licence. They will check afterwards as well to see how the organisation continues to uphold the standards. For more information you can go to their website and read more in your own language at http://www.gla.gov.uk/. Farmhand.jobs are licensed by the GLA to carry on recruitment activities for the agriculture sector.

Agriculture Minimum Wage

Everyone in the UK is entitled to a minimum wage which in this case is set by a department called Agriculture Wages Board. For illustration purposes their latest figure as national minimum wage for the agriculture sector for grade 1 worker is 5-74 an hour. You can find out more at; http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/working/agwages/index.htm

Income Tax and NI

People earning in the UK are required to pay income tax and national insurance that are social contributions. Every applicant working in the UK farms will have their tax and national contribution deducted from their wages by the farm.

Regarding taxes everyone in the UK can earn a certain amount of money before they have to pay taxes. For instance, for 2008/2009 income tax personal allowances are 5435. This means you can earn this amount tax free.

WRS

All citizens of the new member states of the EU who come to work in the UK must register with the Home Office as part of the Workers Registration Scheme (WRS). It is a legal requirement and your employer will assist you with the registration.

Your employer will be the best person to assist you with more details about the relevant legislation mentioned above, however should you have any questions please send them to farmhand.jobs.