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

You can't do the Swim England coaching qualification until you are 18 so he's not going to be a qualified coach until then and this club (like many) are taking the piss.
If he wants to make some money and swimming is his thing, I'd recommend he considers lifeguarding or swimming teaching as these can be done at 16 and pay well (I'm in the SE and lifeguards are c.£15ph teachers £18-22ph). Our local leisure centre run courses for both a couple of times a year and if you commit to 5+ hours a week (paid) for 6 months you get the course free. Not sure where you are but happy to give you details

Total exploitation and sadly it’s happening more often these days. I know of a local cafe that recruits teenagers for trial shift weekends , then ghosts them. They NEVER have the same staff on a weekend as they just have a stream of free trial shift kids, one after another. No one has a contract, nobody is given a job .

First of all you should be really proud of him for finding and signing up to this - he sounds like he's got a great work ethic.

Perhaps he misunderstood, perhaps they could/should have been clearer. But six months is a long time for them to decide he has the right stuff - I suspect they would know within six weeks. I would go and have a chat with the head coach and clarify everything, including what they will pay him once the six months is up. I'd want to see their written policy on this so you can assess whether it's real or just some scammy behaviour.

Can you afford to give him some cash to recognise his effort in the voluntary period?

I think they are taking the piss. Maybe a couple of sessions unpaid but 6 months? That's unrealistic and very unfair.

The utter cheeky fuckers

Oh and my children did volunteer in an unpaid role at our tennis club to help out, it was not towards a coaching qualification, just helping out a coach they loved.
Lots of children have done it over the years.
It was crystal clear it was a volunteering role for 3 months with under 10's and they actually enjoyed it.
They knew what it was about, signed up, and were happy to do it.
No confusion whatsoever.
Very poor to mislead.

They are taking advantage of him. The fact that they didn’t mention it to him directly indicates a shady practice

If your son will let you I would go through all their communication and see if there was anywhere that it seemed like this could be a paid job. If some of the other poolside helpers are paid then it does muddy the waters and I can see why he would also think he would be paid - but as you say they’ve been there for longer and probably have done their 6 months volunteering before payments. I suspect this is the only way it could be taken further if there was an intention to mislead, however there is someone on the thread with a background of employment law so they might offer other advice.

It sounds like your son is doing a great job with becoming a well rounded individual as well as good experience for CV - well done

If he only needed the job for money and has plenty of other experience then agree that he may as well find another job hopefully coaching swimming, if he can get one before his A levels start. You could point out that there was no evidence of it being a voluntary role and that’s why he’s had to leave and He can still use it as a reference

In our swim club, the head coach gets paid (and it is a full time job as about two thirds is admin) but all other coaches are voluntary although they do get money off either their or their kids memberships. Also the club pays for their coaching or teaching qualifications in exchange for their time. I am a committee member and know that the club only breaks even or at a push makes a few hundred profit per year. There are lots of teenagers who are poolside helpers for their d of e volunteering.

If you think the club have been underhand you could contact Swim England who the club will be affiliated to.

The lack of written contract doesn’t prove anything, otherwise loads of dodgy employers would never issue contracts to try and get around employment law.

What an absolute piss-take. Someone’s doing the job, they’re entitled to be paid for doing the job.

My DD is a volunteer coach at her trampoline club in common with about 80% of the team. The difference is that she knew it was volunteering and they paid for her DBS and coaching qualification. Your 16yo is being exploited and I would advise him to stop going - effective immediately.

They never discussed pay? Or signed anything? Sounds wrong.
in which case they’d both be at fault, but I’d blame them! He’s 16, he didn’t know, and if they didn’t make it clear that’s exploitation

out Of interest and I mean this genuinely, if there has been no contract actually signed and no mention of payment and no mention of it being voluntary- where does the OP and her son stand with employment law? How can anyone prove that the other party has done anything wrong annd there hasn’t been a misunderstanding. Especially if as many people have previously said volunteering in sports settings is incredibly common.

He should not work without a contract!!

I would choose to walk away. Six months is a long time to work without pay, and there’s no guarantee of a job at the end, they could simply say he wasn’t needed or didn’t perform well enough. This might even be part of their business model. I’d also consider reporting it to the local council, as they tend to take employment exploitation seriously, especially when it involves minors. Also, HMRC (Minimum Wage Enforcement) if someone is working and not being paid at least minimum wage, even during "training" or "trial" periods, this can be illegal.

For those saying this can fairly be a voluntary role.

it is the duty of this organisation to make that EXTREMELY clear when taking on a volunteer - he should have gone through volunteer training - he should have signed agreements and understanding of what the role involves.

If he is left unaware to the point he asked when he gets paid - they have not done any of this properly.

Or he could look for a low paid job that doesn’t require experience and qualifications- like what he thought he had

no one should have to volunteer to get experience

Hi Op i have a background in human rights law and reading this INCENSES me.

This is a situation where you step in and teach him about employment rights.

This organisation should be publically shamed - I would go to the local paper - I would go to my local MP - definitely local cllrs.

Its disgusting - they are abusing the lack of understanding of a teenager - please don't let this continue.

I would be concerned at the lack of any paperwork, what about insurance, is he covered if anything goes wrong.

This is what ACAS' website says OP: https://www.acas.org.uk/young-workers-and-work-experience/working-hours-during-work-experience so I definitely think they are a good place to start. Please let us know what they say, as this could be helpful to other mums of older teenagers. Best of luck.

Also think you should look at @BigCitys post re other places that he could get paid work and sorry @BigCity youve struggled with getting the support your child needs with swimming 🤍

But your dc has no coaching experience of qualifications.
Surely he needs to do some volunteer coaching to get experience and qualifications before he looks for a wage.