Mary Creagh: Rural workers count the cost of their pay and pensions

That is why, when we were in Government, we legislated so that everyone at work would automatically be enrolled in a private pension scheme meaning that people would have to “opt out” of a pension rather than “opt in”.

Employees would be automatically enrolled in company pension schemes, from 2012 unless they earned less than £5,000 or chose to opt out. Labour also set up the new, independent, National Employment Savings Trust – NEST – to cover the staff of small employers who do not offer a company pension scheme. As Shadow Environment Secretary, I commissioned the House of Commons Library to look at rural workers’ pension provision. Their findings paint a grim picture of pensioner poverty in the countryside. The agricultural sector has the lowest rate of private sector pension provision of any industry.

Some 83 per cent of agricultural employees do not have a private work pension – that’s 106,000 people.

Many of these people will be in Yorkshire, given that we have 12,500 workers currently protected by the agricultural Wages Board.

By contrast, more than half of employees in the manufacturing sector have a private pension, and 79 per cent in the gas and electricity industry have one.

The Tory-led Government’s Pensions Bill will dilute some key elements of those pension protections that Labour brought in.

The Bill – currently before Parliament – will change the salary level at which someone is auto-enrolled from around £5,000 to around £7,475.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb has indicated that this will rise in line with the income tax threshold, and therefore looks set to increase to £10,000 over the next few years.

The House of Commons Library estimates that this will exclude 15,000 people who earn less than £10 000 a year in the agricultural sector from company pension provision.

It will also affect part-time workers who may have two jobs earning over £10,000 a year but which separately do reach the qualifying threshold.

The Pensions Bill also proposes an optional three month waiting period before an employee needs to be enrolled.

Labour had planned enrolment from day one so this change will disproportionately affect at least 37,000 seasonal and temporary agricultural workers.

At least 52,000 workers in farming and agriculture will lose out, according to the House of Commons Library, roughly half of the 106 000 rural workers who do not currently have a pension.

The rural economy has already been hit by the Tory-led Government’s reckless cuts which go too far, too fast.

Families and businesses in rural areas are already feeling the squeeze from wage freezes, higher food and energy bills and financial insecurity.

Living costs in rural areas are estimated to be 10-20 per cent higher than in urban areas.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation states that high petrol costs, lack of affordable housing, cuts to buses, poor access to employment and slow broadband speeds, are responsible for this “rural premium”.

Labour is already campaigning against the Government’s plans to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board which sets pay rates for 12,500 farm workers in Yorkshire and the Humber, 140,000 across England.

Farm workers have had fair pay levels determined by the board since 1948, and even Margaret Thatcher recognised the important role it plays.

Yet David Cameron is determined to abolish it. The land has always has a special place in Yorkshire as the source of our farming heritage and now tourism economy. There is a direct correlation between low pay and poor pension provision. We should be ensuring that everyone gets a fair deal when it comes to their pay and retirement.

We will be stepping up our campaign on pensions as part of our joint “Back the apple – a fair deal for the countryside” work with Unite the Union – you can check out our website at www.backtheapple.com.

The Government should make it easier for people in rural areas to save for their retirement, not harder.

The rural economy is already bearing the brunt of the Government’s ill-thought out economy policy.

It now seems rural workers are missing out not just on jam today but also on jam tomorrow.