A meeting of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) ended in frustration for National Farmers' Union Scotland when no decision was taken on the minimum agricultural wage rates due to be paid from October onwards.

Independent members of the board felt unable to make a decision on agricultural wages without knowing what the national minimum wage increase would be for this year. The board will now meet again on June 1.

The union believes that this underlines its case that the SAWB should be scrapped, as employees would still have full protection under normal employment laws such as the National Minimum Wage and Working Time Directive.

The Scottish government is already considering the future of the SAWB and a decision from the cabinet secretary for rural affairs, Richard Lochhead, is expected in due course.

Chairman of the union’s legal and technical committee and SAWB member Jamie Smart said: “It is disappointing that this meeting of the SAWB could not arrive at a decision on the minimum agricultural wages due to be paid in a few months' time because some members felt obliged to look over their shoulder to a national minimum wage decision for guidance.

“This simply confirmed our position that the agricultural wages board was designed for significantly different times in farming. It has fulfilled its purpose and it has now been superseded by more modern employment legislation so is no longer required. Every other sector of the industry, apart from agriculture, operates within the framework provided by National Minimum Wage and Working Time Directive - it is time for us to also move on.

“The Scottish government needs to grasp the nettle, recognise the growing irrelevance of the wages board and let employment in the agricultural sector move into the 21st century.”

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