DS volunteering part time for 2 months

[MarnieDg]

My son was at college but had alot of mental health issues. He really struggled.

After he went missing instead of going to College I decided to pull him out. He ended up spending months at home not doing much but he had counselling.

He got in touch with a charity to try and help him find what to do next.

He was asked what he might like to do. He said XYZ.

He had no qualifications in XYZ so he asked around about getting some voluntary experience.

A place took him up and said that once he had some hours of experience underbhisnbelt he could get a paid position and training.

He's been there 2 months, doing 6 hours a day, 4 days a week.

I got a letter from HMRC a few days ago asking what benefits is DS on? Does he work? How is he supporting himself?

He's not. I am. And I'm on ESA myself for poor health.

My rent has also gone up £40 a month and I have to pay an extra £100 now that he is not classed as a dependent anymore.

I'm just thinking are they taking the piss now? Is 2 months doing 24 hours a week not enough voluntary work?

Please don't just say 'tell him to get another job' it's taken a long time to find something he likes to do and as long as he is out of the house and socialising I'm happy.

But it would be nice for him to have his own money!

Somehpw, I'm not sure a childcare centre who is unethical enough to string along a young, vulnerable adult with unfulfilled promises of paid employment whilst expecting 24 hours of 'volunteer' work will really have a volunteer coordinator somehow

If your son is interested in childcare there are many nurseries who take on staff who are unqualified but are also able to start an apprenticeship. With that said, the hours are extremely long.
He may also however find work as an unqualified worker maybe lunch cover or something? Nurseries are crying out for staff and he will have had a few months of experience behind him now.

I think it's unclear as to whether he is entitled to NMW or not. We don't know if he would technically be counted as a "worker" and it isn't actually clear as to whether there is any evidence of him having been promised paid work at the end of it or not - that might have been a misunderstanding on his part for all we know. If he isn't counted towards the minimum ratios for the childcare setting, then I guess it might be possible for them to argue that he is "shadowing" rather than actually working. ACAS might be able to help clarify, OP.

If he doesn't have anything in writing about a job offer, then I certainly wouldn't bank on this materialising - they should have been able to assess pretty quickly whether or not he had an aptitude for working with kids,I can't see why it would take so long.

Does he have anything in writing about the arrangement at all, OP, or was it all done informally? What would they say if he decided that he didn't want to turn up for a shift one day... would it cause them problems?

If he doesn't feel able to ask them about it directly, could he approach the charity that introduced him to the childcare setting and ask them to clarify the position on whether this work experience is going to lead to a paid role, and if so, when?

Could he do an apprenticeship? Very common in the early years industry. If not at this workplace, I'm certain others would take him on. It wouldn't be like being at college, it would be on the job learning. If he wants to work with children then he will need a qualification eventually.