Wages board confirms 2.8% pay increase

The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) yesterday confirmed an increase of 2.8 per cent in the minimum hourly rate for key agricultural workers and hourly rates of pay for agricultural apprentices from 1 October.

For those workers who have been employed for more than 26 weeks, the new rate will be not less than £6.86 per hour.

Importantly for Scotland’s fruit and vegetable sectors, the pay increase for workers with less than 26 weeks of employment, the new rate will be not less than £6.22 per hour, a rise of 1.8 per cent.

For those on Modern Apprenticeship schemes, the new hourly rate will be a minimum of £3.81 per hour during the first 12 months of employment. These increases follow a meeting last week of the SAWB where the members considered ten written representations to the proposals published in May this year.

The Scottish Government has promised to review the operation of the SAWB during its current term of office.