Seasonal jobs on farms give you a great opportunity to earn plenty of money, but be warned farm work is physically demanding and you need to be willing to put in the effort in order to reap the rewards. 

England & Wales

The Agricultural Wages Order no longer exists in the UK, so all new employees or workers will be paid under the National Minimum Wage legislation. This is currently £6.31 per hr, when working on farms you may often be set targets which will allow you to earn more than the minimum wage, the amount you earn is often based on the volume of fruit that you have picked. Holiday pay is paid either when you take holiday or at the end of your contract. 

Most farms pay wages 1 week in arrears and into a UK bank account, or provide an on farm bank account system - where you can request money each week from the farm and they will detail your account details with your payslip. 

Any deductions for rent will be deducted from your wages normally, some items like gas bottles or electric cards you may have to pay cash directly to the farm. 

As with any worker in the UK you will be liable to pay income tax and National Insurance, each worker in the UK gets a tax free allowance for the financial year (6th April - 5th April). The tax free amount for the 2013/14 year is £9440.00 but because the Revenue does not know how long you may be working for you will pay tax on your weekly earnings if over £180 per week you will pay 20% tax on the amount over £180. 

You can earn £149 per week (2013/14) before you pay any National Insurance Contributions. 

For example:

If you work 39 hours a week and earn £6.31 per hour, your gross wage will be £246.09 per week, you will pay £12.91 in tax and £11.63 in National Insurance, which means your net pay will be £221.55 - remember rent may be deducted from this amount. 

You may be able to claim the income tax element back when you leave the UK, you will need to keep your P45 and remember to keep all of your payslips as these are important records for you. 

You need to be realistic when looking at what you can earn on a farm, wages on a farm will often vary week by week because of the nature of the crops and weather. So whilst you might earn a lot one week the next week may be less. In the peak times you may be working 6-7 days a week and earnings can be £400+ a week, but other weeks earnings may be less than £100. 

Scotland

Unlike England & Wales, Scotland has kept its Agricultural Wages Order, which lays down specific pay rates for those that work in the Agricultural sector. This means that workers must be paid an overtime rate when they work over 39 hours per week, or over 8 hours in one day. 

Workers must be paid a basic rate of £6.32 per hour and £9.48 per hour overtime hours. 

Just like the UK workers must pay income tax and National insurance in line with the rates in England. Holiday pay for workers in Scotland is paid either at the end of the contract or when holiday is taken, and is based on a calculation of average days worked per week and hours worked per week. 

It is common practice for farms to offer any available overtime work to the best workers, this is because of the increased cost of paying overtime. 

If your employer is setting you targets each hour or day, for example a certain number of kilos per hour, then even if you do not pick to the target you must be paid the legal min wage for each hour that you have worked. However, they may monitor your performance during the day and if they feel you are not picking enough they may stop you from working, in this case they only have to top up your wages to the number of hours you have worked. It is common for workers who are stopped a number of times over their first week or two weeks to be issued warnings, as the farm will not be able to afford to keep topping up wages to the min wage if you are not picking enough.