To ask neighbour to pay son more?

You can't go back and ask for more now. The key is to be clear upfront. Is he doing it as a favour for free, or expecting payment, and if so, how much? You can't really expect other people to know this. As long as everyone knows the score before he starts, you'll be fine.

What a tightwad! I wouldn’t work for the neighbour again and if they ask why, say you were disappointed at how mean she was when paying him. He’d have been better off doing a bit of reselling on Vinted for the time and effort involved.

My 14 year old cuts our grass ( i strip it as we have loads of chips near our windows). It takes about an hour and I give him £10. I hate cutting grass, dh gets awful hay-fever and ds wants to earn some money so it works for us all)

I don’t think it’s that bad - teens don’t have any living costs - and they don’t do things as well as adults do. My son was cutting lawns for £7.50 a go when he was 15, 2 years ago. Now he’s large no one blinks at paying him more. He gets £20 but he does the job properly!

How do they earn pocket money then? I pay my children for jobs such as this otherwise how would they get money to go out with their mates?

By it the point of the minimum wage for younger people is you are paying less as they are less experienced. This was a manual labour job which the child did to same standard as an adult. It just took him a bit longer. I would have paid the teen the same as if I had paid an adult to do it. If it was a big clearing job in heat, somewhere between £20-30 for the whole job (regardless of how long it took) would seen reasonable in my view.

It was mean. But I wouldn't say anything. But dont let him do any more jobs for her.

The neighbour has taken the piss paying him so little, but, as he didn't agree a price beforehand I don't think you should ask for more.
Let him learn how you must negotiate a price before you do any work.

My son is 17 and charges £10 an hour for gardening etc for a nice neighbour. She rounds it up so he's never had less than £20. Also provides food, cakes and drinks so he's happy with that. The key is to set the rate.

Awwww good for him!
In this heat i think your neighbour was stingey!!!!

I'd give him the fiver.

Next time explain he needs to be clear upfront and say "its £10 pr hour charged by the quarter hour.".or send them to you BEFORE doing anything.

OP there isn’t actually a minimum wage for under 16s. £8 per hour is for 16-18YOs. I’d still think £6 an hour wasn’t really enough for physical labour in the hot sun but minimum wage doesn’t come into it. Hopefully he’s learned a valuable lesson from this: agree a set price or an hourly rate up front before starting work. That’s really on him so no don’t go and speak to the neighbour or cause and awkward situation. It might not even be a malicious attempt to stiff so much as just being oblivious to how expensive everything is these days!

There's no minimum wage for under 16, but 16 is £8 an hour.

You said an adult should be able to do it in two hours, so two hours pay seems fair. So would expect £16.

So £15 is not far off.

But a good lesson for him to agree pay before next time and say he will do it again but wants £20.

If your neighbour asked him because she cannot do these or easily do jobs herself because she is older or disabled, I think your son did a kind and neighbourly thing for a token of her appreciation and I can see that asking ahead would be awkward. If she asked him because she wants to employ someone to do something she does not choose to do herself then £15 for 2.5 hours work is unfair and taking advantage.

I think the price sounds fine. But next time maybe just tell him to state price first

Can you afford to give him the extra fiver? It's a bit awkward to ask the neighbour now if a price wasn't agreed before the work started. It could be the neighbour is out of touch with minimum wage, rather than being deliberately tight.

It's good that he's being resourceful, if he's wanting to do more odd jobs for people, I would coach him how to go about politely agreeing the price first. I imagine a lot of people would be happy to tip him a bit extra.

25 quid an hour? You got any jobs going?

Some of these responses. Shows how many people haven’t got a clue as to the value of work and expect something for nothing.

OP write it off to experience and he has learned something today.

No, don't be with him next time that would be undermining and communicate that he needs you and can't manage it himself. He has learnt a lesson this time so let him manage it himself next time. That's the start of learning independence, motivation and self directedness. There's no reason why he should have known to ask for money in advance this time but his disappointment will help him know how he wants to manage it next time.

I’d chuck him an extra tenner myself and learn for next time

Indeed! I have a small lawn and it takes me 20 minutes to cut it.

I would probably expect him to be paid £20 for that- 2.5 x £8

I wouldn't be with him next time he talks to her though, but enable him to calmly and politely discuss with neighbour himself

Why on earth are you paying your child to cut the lawn in his own house? I completely disagree with paying for chores though. In our home, everyone contributes - for the kids it’s their time. I have a 10yo ds who is now able to see something needed to be done and does it regardless of whose ‘chore’ it should be.
Teaches them to do something not only for a benefit!

What a joke paying £30 to someone for doing something in his own house!

Astonished at all the people who think she has underpaid or taken the piss, it sounds about right to me. My 16 year old works coaching sports and gets £15 for 1.5-2 hours work which he’s very happy with.

I don’t think you should say anything this time but chalk it up to a lesson learnt and next time he’s asked he will know to agree to a rate upfront.

Really? Many adults on minimum wage don't get near £15anhpir ne er mond a school kid

But £15 for the amount of work on such a hot day is a pisstake. £25 would've been more acceptable