DS wants to turn down job

[MrsCD67]

DS(18) has managed to secure an apprenticeship with an insurance company which will pay him around £4.50 an hour.
He will have to work at least 40 hours a week up to around 44 in some weeks.
My son thinks that this is absurd and he no longer wants this job as the pay is low and the hours are long.
I've told him he should still go for it as the hours are fairly standard and it'd be good experience.
Does anyone else think that 40+ hours a week is quite a lot for an unqualified apprentice?

There seems to be a massive difference in apprenticeships. Some seem genuine with proper qualifications, others seem to be looking for cheap labour.

I was at one I saw advertised the other day - apprentice pot washer for a large chain of Italian restaurants...

@slightly

A 'defined qualification' can be anything, though. It could be a level 1 certificate in desk-sitting or it could be an insurance industry standard qualification with good progression rates.

It would concern me that he won't be physically going into college. What is the exact name and level of the qualification?

@CalF123 sales roles do fall under a very wide umbrella. I’m in one and don’t work in a call centre, I work at a digital agency and sell our services, primarily through development of existing accounts. Lots of writing of proposals, speaking with clients etc.

Not sure about insurance industry but sales does not automatically mean call centre, though I’d be suspicious too until I knew the qualification was.

OP your DS has a confirmed job offer. He needs to think how likely that he will get another actual offer of a different apprenticeship or job. Is he still in time to apply for the other apprenticeship? I agree that estate agency seems a job with less prospects unless the company has a good online presence. Even then some sellers are just bypassing EA and uploading property details themselves.

This wage is abysmal and I wouldn't let my child accept this job.

This culture of hard work paying off, in the corporate world it isn't always true - I would see this as a huge waste of time.

Depends how good the qualification is tbh. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it is just cheap labour. Maybe he could give it 3 months to see how he gets on; at least that will be some experience under his belt to get another job

I’m 20 years old and earn more than that working 3 days a week. My partner is on living wage 5 days a week, we have a house and a child with around 400-600 pounds a month leftover. We don’t claim anything (not that there’s an issue with that) but that wage is absolutely crap.
I’m also in a job with LOTS of career progression.

Diet It all depends. It is paid training. If the end qualification is worthwhile, then it could be a great opportunity. Or it could be a pointless qualification and limited training and being exploited. We won't know until the OP returns and says what the qualification is.

The training and qualification is apparently a Level 3 Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship Standard, and Technical Certificate from the Chartered Insurance Institute

Hi OP. What qualification will he have obtain at the end? It may be that some of the people on here are in the industry and can tell you if the qualification is worth a few years of poor pay

So that is indeed CII - definitely seen as a worth-having qualification, and definitely more so that in estate agency.

He needs to balance short term pain with long term gain.

He is NBU - apprenticeships at my firm are basically slave labour and I feel awful for them - doing exactly what we do for pennies in comparison. It's outrageous and he shouldn't let himself be sold short like that.

Sounds grim

Even if the pay is a pittance, it's better than sitting around at home on zero pay! And at least they're paying him, rather than him going to uni and paying them fortunes.

If he doesn’t take it, what then?

Why not take the job and keep applying for other jobs if he’s not keen? It’s much easier to get another job with a bit of experience behind you.

Does anyone know whether the estate agency job sounds any better? 40 ish hours a week for £5 and it's working towards a level 2 property management qualification?

Level 2 is only equivalent to GCSE level, so it does sound like the insurance qualification is more worthwhile than the property management.

I’d go for the estate agency one rather than insurance sales

DH works in insurance and he can certainly earn more with a CII qualification - with experience
More than estate agents earn.

He will learn about all area claims management underwriting policy wording brokers etc

Look on the national database for accredited qualifications if your unsure

I asked abiut apprenriahips the irher day. Ds was offered ine, working in a warehouse, the qualification (?) he he wiuld leave with after a year of 39 hour weeka at 3.20 an hour....a forklift lisence. So some companies do take the piss.

@wibblywobblyfoo
£3.20 an hour?! I thought the minimum was £3.70!

Sorry for the typing on the last message, phone cover was being a prat.
Yes, it is, but they had 'accidentally' given the wrong wage.
When ds asked what the qualification would be he was told it was a years training with them so that they would employ him and he could do his forklift licence.

To get funding the employer has to follow rules set out in the first link here (includes a minimum number of hours but no max):
www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-funding-and-performance-management-rules-2017-to-2018

Worth checking employers are following these

That’s shit. £9k a year is a pittance. I’m an apprentice and earn double that. 40hrs a week is what I do though and is standard, it’s not the hours it’s the money and relevance of the training.
What kind of training / career path would an apprenticeship to an insurance company take him on?

It sounds boring, pointless and exploitative.