BURY'S band of dedicated homeworkers could get more more money under new minimum wage regulations.

They could be among 170,000 such workers nationwide to benefit under new rules announced by the Government.

The changes will mean that home and piece workers will have to be paid at a rate that is linked to the National Minimum Wage.

Homeworkers are employed by a wide range of companies in a variety of roles, including packing greeting cards, feeding strings into cloth products and assembling Christmas crackers. It is an industry where many suffer from low wages.

From October, employers will:

no longer be allowed to set the rate of pay at four fifths of the time it takes an average worker to complete a set piece of work

give employees clearer information about the rate they are expected to work at, and their hourly wage

Pay all homeworkers the minimum wage for all hours worked or 100 per cent of the National Minimum Wage for the number of hours it takes an average worker to complete an agreed block of work: a "fair piece rate".

In April 2005, homeworkers will see a further improvement in their wages when employers will have to pay the average worker at a rate of 120 per cent of the National Minimum Wage for a block of work.

This means that more employees, not just the fastest, will get the National Minimum Wage for an agreed block of work.