Agricultural Wages Act 1948

6 Provisions as to learners

(1) Where a minimum rate of wages has been fixed under this Act for a special class of workers defined by reference to the fact that they are in receipt of instruction in agriculture, and the order fixing the rate provides that this section shall have effect in relation thereto, the rate shall not apply in relation to a worker unless there is in force a certificate given by the agricultural wages committee for the county in which the worker is employed that they approve the terms of his employment.

A certificate under this subsection may provide that it shall be deemed to have been in force from such date not earlier than the making to the agricultural wages committee of the application for the certificate as may be specified in the certificate.

(2) An agricultural wages committee in granting an application for a certificate under the preceding subsection may impose such conditions as appear to them requisite for securing that the worker to whom the application relates shall receive adequate instruction, and that the terms of his employment shall be in other respects satisfactory, and if (whether on an application under this subsection or otherwise) it appears to the committee that a condition imposed under this subsection is not being complied with, or that the terms of the worker's employment are no longer satisfactory, they may revoke the certificate.

(3) An agricultural wages committee may (whether on an application under this subsection or otherwise) vary a condition imposed under the last preceding subsection.

(4) Before revoking a certificate or varying a condition under the preceding provisions of this section, an agricultural wages committee shall serve on the worker to whom the certificate relates and on his employer notice of their proposal so to do, and afford to the worker and employer an opportunity of making representations to the committee, and no such revocation or variation as aforesaid shall take effect until notice of the revocation or variation has been served by the agricultural wages committee on the worker to whom the certificate relates and on his employer.

A notice under this subsection shall be duly served on a person if sent to him by post in a registered letter.

(5) It shall not be lawful for the employer of a worker, being an apprentice or learner, who is employed in agriculture in a county for which an agricultural wages committee is established under this Act to receive directly or indirectly from the worker, or on his behalf or on his account, a payment by way of premium unless the payment is duly made in pursuance of an agreement approved for the purposes of this subsection by the agricultural wages committee, and the amount of a payment received in contravention of this subsection shall be recoverable by the person by whom the payment was made.

(6) If an employer acts in contravention of the last preceding subsection he shall be liable on summary conviction in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and in any proceedings against an employer under this subsection the court shall, whether there is a conviction or not, order the employer to repay any sum which the court finds to have been received by way of premium in contravention of the last preceding subsection.

(7) Nothing in the last preceding subsection shall be taken to exclude the bringing otherwise than in accordance with that subsection of proceedings for the recovery of an amount due under subsection (5) of this section.

(8) The Board may by order made in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Schedule to this Act specify matters with respect to which an agricultural wages committee must be satisfied before granting a certificate under subsection (1) of this section or approving an agreement for the purposes of subsection (5) thereof.