Rates of pay

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
If your not charging £15/hour self employed go and work in a supermarket you'll be better off.
Great many self employed trailer jockeys and general farm workers are on a tenner, all very well people quoting £15-18/hr but the worker would be earning more than the farmer.
a bad farmer.... unless you count the vehicle , house, bills etc the business pays. Why do we all insist on saying how bloody hard we work yet also saying how little we are worth!!!!
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Yes ,^^^ these numbers get banded about , go have a go getting these prices working big hours , cloud cuckoo ! As for the shelf stacking, that sounds fun !
Workers that can plant, drive combines , fabricate and mechanic can charge those rates as main man on a farm but not a general farm worker, feeding/bedding/working ground etc
 
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Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
a bad farmer.... unless you count the vehicle , house, bills etc the business pays. Why do we all insist on saying how bloody hard we work yet also saying how little we are worth!!!!
Unfortunatly its about the end product value not the hard work that dictates the wage.
 

tepapa

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Wales
Most of those jobs are minimum wage on zero hour contracts. Think i would prefer a cosy cab on a tenner doing 60-70hrs and £600-700+/ week
I was charging £10/hr for proper self employed work, not working on the same farm on a self employed basis instead of on the books. And it nearly broke me.
Also who wants to work 60-70hours a week every week. It's ok for seasonal work but that also needs to cover the quite times and the holiday time.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Hi,

So I am curious as to what self employed farm workers are charging or getting paid these days,
I charge £11/hr and 45p/mile for diesel whenever I am using my pickup for work going round the fields ect...

I provide a pickup that I use to do any job asked of me, 5ks worth of tools so I can take on most jobs away from the workshop and my own trailer that gets used a lot around the farm for a variety of jobs

Where I am currently working I have been doing work for them for over 10 years,
I am mostly a yard based worker around the stores, potato wash and grading facility but I do a lot of loader and forklift work too
I do most of the soil sampling across the fields, I go and do all the sample digging of the potato crops before harvest and clocked up over 1500 miles in the weeks before harvest doing this

I cover for the store manager when he has weekends off or goes on holiday

I have a lot of equipment experience and have run potato planters and other machinery,

So what should I be charging as I feel like I’m not compensating for my expenses but don’t want to be undercut by someone else if I put my rates up

Kind regards

Jordan
Tbf i wouldnt be putting miles on my truck for someone else, if i was you i would want them to provide a truck and up the wage to £12
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
I was charging £10/hr for proper self employed worknot working on the same farm on self employed basis instead of on the books. And it nearly broke me.
Also who wants to work 60-70hours a week every week. It's ok for seasonal work but that also needs to cover the quite times and the holiday time.
Thats farming
 

J.T.Agri

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Shropshire, UK
Unfortunately many of the big farms prefer self employed workers these days and if you want the work you play ball otherwise they find someone who is.
And using my own vehicle and tools ect keeps work coming my way, its the only way to guarantee work and guarantee an income. unfortunately its hard make it pay for low rates.

Farming has changed over the years and with farms becoming more efficient, kit getting bigger and and less bodies needed per farm you have to do what it takes to secure a decent job and for a decent farm
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Sorry I disagree. If you can only make £10 per hour as a farmer . You are farming the wrong products. If you farm as you enjoy it and only earn £10 including all benefits abs you are happy, then fine
Are you a farmer? Buy one and try it, its not all fendts ,range rovers and skiing holidays. Take a look at many of the limited company farm accounts available to view online and see the debts
 

kiwi pom

Member
Location
canterbury NZ
Unfortunately many of the big farms prefer self employed workers these days and if you want the work you play ball otherwise they find someone who is.
And using my own vehicle and tools ect keeps work coming my way, its the only way to guarantee work and guarantee an income. unfortunately its hard make it pay for low rates.

Farming has changed over the years and with farms becoming more efficient, kit getting bigger and and less bodies needed per farm you have to do what it takes to secure a decent job and for a decent farm

Working for low wages isn't helping you long term though is it.
It's the reason people move away from Ag, you don't see many older workers nowadays. If they won't pay a fair rate, retrain and move on.


As I understand it, its not you that gets in trouble for being self employed, its the farm that gets the big bill. If you put your rates up and they wont pay, you could always suggest a call to the Inland revenue to clarify the situation.
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
I’m going to hazard a guess that you don’t have a mortgage or kids as £10h won’t get you far unless you’re doing 70h weeks without an holidays!

Realistically anything less 30k a year you seriously need to reassess your situation!
If your running your own truck have the skills to run and repair machinery you want to be on £13-15/h minimum, £15-20h self employed for sure.
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
I’m going to hazard a guess that you don’t have a mortgage or kids as £10h won’t get you far unless you’re doing 70h weeks without an holidays!

Realistically anything less 30k a year you seriously need to reassess your situation!
If your running your own truck have the skills to run and repair machinery you want to be on £13-15/h minimum, £15-20h self employed for sure.
Are you a farmer? 😉 sorry but some of these replies are worrying . If you are genuine farming on £10 per hour BEFORE house and everything else then you must really love it. Else how else do you pay the bills? You can’t lose money forever. I’m genuinely interested @Werzle . What is your rent/mortgage? Heating, fuel, food bills.
 
Are you a farmer? 😉 sorry but some of these replies are worrying . If you are genuine farming on £10 per hour BEFORE house and everything else then you must really love it. Else how else do you pay the bills? You can’t lose money forever. I’m genuinely interested @Werzle . What is your rent/mortgage? Heating, fuel, food bills.
What do you mean before House, plenty of farmers own there own house you know, just as others do.
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
Are you a farmer? 😉 sorry but some of these replies are worrying . If you are genuine farming on £10 per hour BEFORE house and everything else then you must really love it. Else how else do you pay the bills? You can’t lose money forever. I’m genuinely interested @Werzle . What is your rent/mortgage? Heating, fuel, food bills.
Yes, I am a farmer, well, most of the time anyway 😉.
I think a lot of farmers don’t put a value on what that actually pay themselves! I live off the yard have a wife, kids, and a mortgage to pay for and a take an appropriate wage.
If I was living in the farm house I wouldn’t take as much of a wage as I’d have no mortgage but the company is in effect paying rent for the farm house so on paper I’m not being paid as much in wages.
A lot can’t get there head around benefits in kind when it’s a company house and the company pays council tax and utilities etc, they don’t associate it with there income.

However that’s a whole different debate.
 

Robt

Member
Location
Suffolk
What do you mean before House, plenty of farmers own there own house you know, just as others do.
I was asked . I answered . £10 per hour or less as I was told that a farmer earns, then why other than you love this amazing industry would you do it. If you are young then I can’t see it paying. If you have children that have left home, your mortgage is paid etc then yes I can see.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Are you a farmer? 😉 sorry but some of these replies are worrying . If you are genuine farming on £10 per hour BEFORE house and everything else then you must really love it. Else how else do you pay the bills? You can’t lose money forever. I’m genuinely interested @Werzle . What is your rent/mortgage? Heating, fuel, food bills.
Dont worry about me, get back to me when you get a farm job on £18/ hr.
 

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