Guidance

Changes to Standard Labour Requirement Coefficients

Published 4 July 2025

Applies to England

Background

Standard Labour Requirements (SLR) estimate the annual amount of labour used on the farm on an hours per hectare, or per head basis, for example, hours worked per hectare of wheat or per dairy cow. They represent labour requirements (hours worked) under typical conditions for enterprises of average size and performance. They are based on labour usage from different enterprises. Labour hours include direct, overhead and contract labour.

Using SLRs to classify farm businesses provides an alternative description of farm size (particularly useful when considering the difference between full and part time businesses) to the method based on Standard Outputs.

The last update of SLR coefficients was carried out in 2009. The analysis was based on data from the 2004/05 to 2007/08 Farm Business Survey (FBS) and covered 18 crop and 16 livestock enterprises.

To better reflect current labour use practice, a review and update of England’s SLR coefficients was carried out in late 2024 using data from the 2019/20 to 2022/23 FBS. The review covered the same crop and livestock enterprises as the 2009 update. The new 2024 coefficients will be implemented in the 2025 June Survey of Agriculture and the 2024/25 Farm Business Survey.

The dataset for this paper, which includes the 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients, can be downloaded at the following link: 2009 and 2024 Standard Labour Requirement coefficients

Methodology

Data for the 2009 analysis of labour use were largely taken from Section P (Labour use hours) and M (Gross margins at the enterprise level) of the Farm Business Survey (FBS). For a small number of animal enterprises data from Section E (Livestock) were also used.

Section P, which recorded hours worked per enterprise, has not been part of the FBS since 2007/08. It was therefore necessary to find an alternative way of calculating hours worked per enterprise.

The 2024 method used information from Section B (Labour) and Section M of the FBS and was based on monetary values which were then converted to labour hours for each enterprise. As part of the quality assurance process the 2009 coefficients were also reproduced using the 2024 methodology for comparison.

Whilst the new method gives a broad estimate of labour use, it does not directly replicate the 2009 analysis. Some adjustments / assumptions needed to be made in the absence of some data comparable to 2009. These were:

• Section B labour data: even subsetted on an individual enterprise, Section B labour data could include labour hours linked to activities other than the chosen enterprise. To counter this, an adjustment was applied based on enterprise level wage data from Section M.
• In the absence of any new data, the contract hours used in the 2024 methodology reflected the proportions observed in 2009.
• As the new methodology was based on monetary values which were converted to hours, it was assumed that overhead labour was captured, although it was not possible to separate this out in the 2024 update.

Where FBS information was not available, some of the 2009 coefficients were based on data from the John Nix Farm Management Pocketbook. A similar approach was taken in 2024 for these enterprises. Additionally, following feedback from industry experts during the quality assurance process, data from the Farm Management Pocket book was also used for beef cattle and some sheep categories. Dataset Table 1 shows a comparison of the 2009 and 2024 SLRs.

Impact on agricultural holdings

Holding size is measured by Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) expressed in terms of full-time equivalents under typical conditions. They represent the input of labour required per head of livestock or per hectare of crops for enterprises of average size and performance. Table 1 shows the SLR size bands, these are unaffected by the change in SLR coefficients.

Table 1 SLR size bands

SLR size band	Size band definition
Very small (spare time)	greater than or equal to 0 less than ½ SLR
Very small (part time)	greater than or equal to ½ less than 1 SLR
Small	greater than or equal to 1 less than 2 SLR
Medium	greater than or equal to 2 less than 3 SLR
Large	greater than or equal to 3 less than 5 SLR
Very Large	greater than or equal to 5 SLR

Table 2 and Figure 1 show the impact of the SLR change on holdings in the 2023 June Agricultural Survey. The survey represents commercial agricultural holdings registered with the Rural Payments Agency for payment or livestock purposes and with significant levels of farming activity defined as more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables, 0.1 hectares of protected crops, 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.

Table 2 Summary of the impact of SLR coefficient changes, England 2023: number of holdings by size band

SLR size band	Holdings by 2009 SLRs	Holdings moving out of size band	Holdings remaining in size band	Holdings moving into size band	Holdings by 2024 SLRs
Very small (spare time)	52,248	353	51,895	4,444	56,339
Very small (part time)	15,575	4,348	11,227	3,443	14,670
Small	13,758	3,420	10,338	3,080	13,418
Medium	6,872	2,667	4,205	2,099	6,304
Large	6,736	2,163	4,573	1,203	5,776
Very large	7,216	1,461	5,755	143	5,898
Total	102,405	14,412	87,993	14,412	102,405

Source: June Survey of Agriculture 2023

Figure 1 Number of holdings by SLR size band, England 2023: comparison of 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients

Source: Dataset Table 2 2009 and 2024 Standard Labour Requirement coefficients

Using the 2024 coefficients resulted in a fall in the number of holdings in every size band except the “very small (spare time)” category, which increased by just over 4,000 holdings. It should be noted that this change reflects a reduction in labour requirement estimates (due to the change in SLR coefficients) rather than a change in the physical size of the farm, or the activities being carried out. Table 2 shows that the majority of the holdings remained in the same SLR size band.

Changes in the percentage of holdings in each SLR size band are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Percentage of holdings by SLR size band, England 2023: comparison of 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients

Source: Dataset Table 2 2009 and 2024 Standard Labour Requirement coefficients

Impact on farm businesses

Like agricultural holdings, the size of farm businesses can be measured by Standard Labour Requirement (SLR) expressed in terms of full-time equivalents under typical conditions. SLRs represent the input of labour required per head of livestock or per hectare of crops for enterprises of average size and performance. An overview of SLR size bands can be found in Table 1, these are unaffected by the change in SLR coefficient.

While farms have historically been identified at the holding level, in recent years some farmers with several holdings have amalgamated them into a single business. Figure 3 takes into account these amalgamations; the farm businesses shown can be made up of one or several holdings.

Figure 3 Number of farm businesses by SLR size band, England 2023: comparison of 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients

Source: Dataset Table 3 2009 and 2024 Standard Labour Requirement coefficients

In a similar pattern to the holding level analysis, using the 2024 SLR coefficients produced a fall in the number of farm businesses in every size band except the “very small (spare time)” category, which increased by around 3,700 farm businesses. It should be noted that this change reflects a reduction in labour requirement estimates (due to the change in SLR coefficients) rather than a change in the physical size of the farm, or the activities being carried out.

The Farm Business Survey (FBS) represents farm businesses in England with a Standard Output of more than £21,000. These “commercial” farm businesses cover the vast majority of agricultural activity but around 43,000 smaller businesses (which account for only around 2% of output) are not included in the survey population.

The number of the “commercial” farm businesses in the FBS population in each SLR size band can be seen in Table 3 and Figure 4. For this subset of farm businesses using the 2024 SLR coefficients produced a slight fall in the number of farms across each size band except both “very small” categories (spare time and part time).

Table 3 Summary of the impact of SLR coefficient changes, England 2023: number of “commercial” farm businesses by size band

SLR size band	Farms by 2009 SLRs	Farms moving out of size band	Farms remaining in size band	Farms moving into size band	Farms by 2024 SLRs
Very small (spare time)	6,457	214	6,243	2,611	8,854
Very small (part time)	12,105	2,676	9,429	2,943	12,372
Small	12,564	3,097	9,467	2,880	12,347
Medium	6,490	2,466	4,024	2,033	6,057
Large	6,467	2,019	4,448	1,210	5,658
Very large	7,231	1,342	5,889	137	6,026
Total	51,314	11,814	39,500	11,814	51,314

Source: Business Level Dataset 2023

Figure 4 Number of “commercial” farm businesses in the FBS population by SLR size band, England 2023: comparison of 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients

Source: Dataset Table 4 2009 and 2024 Standard Labour Requirement coefficients

Figure 5 shows the changes in the percentage of “commercial” farm businesses in each SLR size band and shows the increase in the very small (spare time) size band from 12.6% to 17.3%.

Figure 5 Percentage of “commercial” farm businesses in the FBS populations by SLR size band, England 2023: comparison of 2009 and 2024 SLR coefficients