Explanatory note

These Regulations further amend the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 (“the 1977 Order”). Paragraph 26 of Schedule 2 to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”) amended the 1977 Order so as to apply the enforcement provisions of the 1998 Act for the purposes of that Order. The effect of these Regulations is to specify the additional remuneration to which a worker is entitled for agricultural work where his employer has paid him at a rate less than the minimum rate applicable under the 1977 Order.

The amount is the difference between what the worker received from his employer for agricultural work in the pay reference period and what he would have received if he had been paid at the minimum rate. The expression “pay reference period” is defined in the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, S.I. 1999/584.