Agricultural Wages Committees (AWCs) and Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committees (ADHACs)

Agricultural Wages Committees

AWCs are Executive Non Departmental Public Bodies and their sponsor division is ARBR. There are 15 AWCs in England with Secretariats based at RDS Crewe (9 Areas) and RDS Bristol (6 Areas).

The legislation (The Agricultural Wages Act 1948 and the Agricultural (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968) gives the AWCs power to:

• grant a permit to a worker exempting an employer from paying him/her the full statutory agricultural minimum wage (or complying with some other term or condition in the Wages Order) because the worker is incapacitated by some physical or other disability
• grant a certificate allowing an employer to apply specified Wages Order rates to a worker in receipt of instruction
• fix a value in excess or below the value set by the Wages Board where a house is provided for a worker as a "benefit"
• direct that an employer pays additional wages to a worker on piecework where the piecework rate is so low that an ordinary worker working the piece rate hours would receive less than the minimum rate for timework
• determine whether a person is a member of a special class of workers (in practice to issue, revoke and suspend craft certificates in certain circumstances).

The powers are now largely outdated and rarely used. Permit of Exemption provisions will be repealed by 1st October 2004 because they are not compatible with Council Directive 200/78/EC of 27th November 2000. The employers’ route for a craft certificate was withdrawn in the AWB Order from 7th July 2003. The power to grant a certificate to an employer of a worker in receipt of instruction has not been used since 1983. Further, since 1995 there have been just 7applications to an AWC to fix the value of a house . The piecework provisions have not been used for some years and will be otiose if the Board is given the power to include fair estimate provisions, similar to those in the NMW legislation, in the Wages Order.

Under Section 29 of the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976, ADHACs are established within the area of each AWC and the Chairman is responsible for appointment to the ADHAC and for dealing with appeals arising from hearings.

Agricultural Dwelling House Advisory Committees (ADHACs)

ADHACs are Advisory Non Departmental Public Bodies and their sponsor division is ARBR.

The Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and the Housing Act 1988 give certain agricultural workers (including retired workers and successors) workers and certain successors living in farm cottages, security of tenure. However, under these Acts a farmer may apply to the local housing authority to have the protected worker re-housed, if he / she needs the cottage for another worker in the interests of efficient agriculture. To assist the housing authority in considering the farmer’s application the 1976 Act provides for an ADHAC to give advice on the case made by the applicant concerning the interests of efficient agriculture and regarding the urgency of the application. Section 29 of the 1976 Act makes provision for the establishment of ADHACs within the area of each AWC.