My 16 yo has taken a job that has turned out to voluntary!

Fees at our club are NOT 100+ a month. Or anywhere near that.

It's not a volunteer role though. He was told it's £8 an hour and they 'forgot' to mention the 6 months probation period is unpaid

I'm not sure where you are getting this from? He wasn't told this before he started, only after he asked. And it is a volunteer role.

I think communication has been poor from both sides. The OP was very aware that in the past this has been a volunteer role, as it was previously done by D0fE participants. The OP's son should have asked up front what the situation was, and equally the club should have made it clear.

It's just a bit unfortunate, but I don't think it's exploitation. It's up to the OP's son if he wants to continue or not. Plenty of teenagers do volunteering alongside school and a part time job - my own teenager used to volunteer with me at cubs for a couple of hours a week, work in a cafe on a Saturday, and do her A levels, and she managed just fine.

At 16 I wouldn't have been clued up on this...

Absolutely it feels exploitative.

He needs to decide if he wants to continue on voluntary basis,it may help him get a paid position with another club.

It doesn’t sound like he was told anything about £8 an hour until he asked when he was getting paid. And he didn’t apply for an advertised job, he contacted them to ask to be a poolside helper, and from what’s been said wasn’t clear in his email that he wanted a paid job not a volunteer opportunity leading to qualifications, which is what the role mainly is for young people.

The monthly costs are so high because the operating costs of hiring a pool are so high compared to hiring a scout hut, and the hours involved are much greater. The running of swimming clubs generally is done purely by volunteers with only more senior coaches being paid.

Why are u quoting me????

It's not a volunteer role though. He was told it's £8 an hour and they 'forgot' to mention the 6 months probation period is unpaid.

So what? He didn't apply for a volunteer role at a place solely run by volunteers. It's a club where customers pay £100+ per month to attend, not a scout hut which is about £35 a term. He was told he was getting paid £8 an hour and they never mentioned a 6 month unpaid probation. He is right to feel like they have taken advantage of a 16 year old child. I am an unpaid volunteer 1 day a week and it was made clear from the outset.

Yeah unpaid trial shifts are illegal so I can’t see how this wouldn’t be

I would also say if he wants a paid job he’d be better off finding somewhere to put him through swim teaching qualifications rather than a swimming club who will go coaching route. For some unknown reason you can’t do level 2 coach until you are 18. That really does hinder kids in getting paid employment, even if clubs pay their coaches.

But then the point about volunteering is that the qualifications cost £££££. If you want to avoid too much volunteering to be fully qualified costs about £1k in courses. STA do an award L2 that can be a cheaper route but a lot of providers consider the cert to be equaivalent to SE level 2.

Once they are qualified at level 2 they can earn about £17 an hour, regardless of age.

6 MONTHS. I think any of these jobs where you have to do unpaid trial shifts are bollocks, but this really takes the piss. Not sure what you can do about it.

So get a job at a supermarket 🤦🏻‍♀️

Our club pays the head coach and will pay qualified coaches and swim teachers as long as they are the actual ‘coach’ rather than a helper (most sessions have 2 proper coaches, who can be swim teachers if they are lower level swimmers or are assisting). We consider it to be important to give the kids paid employment but not those who have no qualifications. DH volunteers as a coach and is qualified, he also does a whole heap of admin as a volunteer.

If you don’t want to do voluntary work then don’t - it’s entirely a choice.

Echo two comments - firstly if he wants a paid job then lifeguarding is good and DD has done that. Also second comment of 16 year olds being clueless - dd1 ended up with the opposite problem, too many hours that she then couldn’t change.

At 16 your son can train to be a life guard. 5 day course. My daughter did this and gets paid at a local sports center (minimum wage). Looking to take her swim coach qualifications, which seems to require experience which is unpaid until they are qualified.

I remember doing huge amounts of voluntary work at that age to build up my CV. I guess it depends how much he needs the experience. Also a reference at the end of it. How many hours a week is it?

He should get a NPLQ and get a job as a lifeguard. At the pool my DD works at the lifeguards are involved in the swimming lessons and swimming club and are paid (at 16) well above NMW (DD is 17 and gets £14-15 an hour). Oh, and a DBS takes <3 weeks.

Teenagers are a bit clueless about work, DD1 didn't realise that on a casual contract she had to claim for her hours worked, or that her training was paid as well. All the things adults take for granted they have to learn.

No this is simply not true. In our county I can only name one club where head coach is paid. Ours is 100% voluntary! We have about 15 coaches.

All the coaches at my daughters club are not paid, even head coach.

It’s a life lesson to your son to check terms of employment before he starts.

he can look at it two ways, leave and get something that’s paid elsewhere or stick at it unpaid whilst gaining valuable experience and something that will look brilliant on his CV as a voluntary job. Perhaps you can ask around and see what the other young coaches are doing, how long have they been there? Is there a contract for volunteers? You need to do some more asking around on his behalf I think.

Just a thought - what is his insurance position? He could get hurt. A pool user could. Is he left alone poolside - even for short periods?

Does he have a contract that mentions these issues? Employer liability usually covers this sort of thing.

It’s only dodgy if there was ever an indication on either side that it would be a paid role, given that it is something that is almost always voluntary. If his original email asked if there were any paid opportunities at the club, and they invited him to come along and didn’t mention for a month it was voluntary, then yes it is dodgy. If he asked if he could come and be a poolside helper with a view to doing coach training, but didn’t mention he was hoping for paid employment, and they gave no indication in response that they would pay him, then it isn’t dodgy.

This isn’t a job that has been advertised and then turned out not to be what it seemed, he approached them.

The problem is that they weren't upfront about it being a voluntary role initially. It was only after he completed the first month that he was told. That's dodgy as fuck

Oh I would not be happy!
Six months is a long time when he could be doing same hours at local supermarket/shop and getting minimum wage.
Thry are definitely taking the piss!

He does 10 hours a month.
That's 60 hours over the 6.months

Effectively that's 2 weeks work which seems not an unreasonable evaluation period.

He's 16.
It's good to volunteer
He's not being exploited

If he's enjoying it, then it's excellent and he gets a CV boost as well.

He's also learned a valuable lesson about the job application process.

Not what he was expecting but at 2.5 hours a week and the (paid by them?) training he's done it will show amazing commitment on his CV. Meanwhile he could get another job

After I graduated I did some volunteering work alongside any job I could get while seeking out a properly qualified one and this experience was vital in securing my future career.

My kids swim at a club and I have never known such a bunch of incompetent people. Steer well away they know exactly what they are doing!

It should have been made clear at the start that it was unpaid. My 17 year old daughter has been working as a poolside helper for a council run pool since she turned 16. She does 2.5 hours Saturday mornings for which she is paid and furthermore they are paying for her Level 1 and Level 2 training so she can qualify as a swim teacher. Maybe he could look for a pool that pays as he will now have a cv with experience on it so will be a step ahead of other applicants.

Many clubs are largely run with volunteers.

Without a written contract acas or similar is just a waste of time, and it Will be blamed on miscommunication.

Either quit , but know you are burning bridges at the club
, or carry on if it is a wanted skill for experience/ CV / side hustle.