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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect more than £4.50/h for a 15 year old?

126 replies

Hedgehogsaremything · 03/12/2023 09:18

My son is working in a local garden centre for the pre-Christmas season - netting Christmas trees, carrying them to cars and doing general tasks in their outside yard. It's physically demanding but he's tall and pretty strong for his age.

He was told at the end of his first shift that he would be getting £4.50/hour.

When I was 15 in 19-bloody-88 I was on £3 / hour... working in a pub. That was 35 years ago!!?!

AIBU to expect him to be earning a little more than that?

OP posts:
DoktorPeppa · 03/12/2023 10:04

Debenhams paid me £1.90 an hour in the 90s 😂

CharityShopChic · 03/12/2023 10:04

When I was 15 in 19-bloody-88 I was on £3 / hour

You're the same age as me and I had my first job in William Low's (defunct supermarket) at 15. I can't remember exactly what I earned, but it was less than £2 an hour. (And I thought I was minted). You were being very well paid.

Wimbledonmum1985 · 03/12/2023 10:05

My fourteen year old DD gets £10 per hour babysitting so this feels very low indeed.

Mydpisgrumpierthanyours · 03/12/2023 10:05

Minimum wage is a joke as it is. I don't understand why they pay different wages for ages, if a 15 year old is doing the same job as a 50 year old they should be paid the same wage.

AnonyLonnymouse · 03/12/2023 10:06

I would follow up the point about insurance and also make sure that he has decent quality strong work gloves, boots and a pair of goggles if he is using any machinery (chipper or blower).

SunflowerBaby · 03/12/2023 10:07

That is tight. We run a restaurant and our FOH staff who are under 18 (one of which is 15) gets £10.90 an hour.

sawnotseen · 03/12/2023 10:13

My two (19 and 24) didn't work until they'd left school at 18 as we funded them, but my son's girlfriend, when they were 16, earned £4 ph at a local soft play, three years ago. Awful.
I used to pay my then 16yr old neice £8ph to do my cleaning 3hrs a week, 15yrs ago, so she had a good deal but she did as good a job as the agency cleaners. I applauded her work ethic. She's 30 now, worked all through uni for a high end fashion retailer and now has a great senior managerial level job in central London.
I don't know anyone who worked at 14/15 apart from paper rounds, babysitting, or working cash in hand for family.
I did babysitting at 15 for my mums friend. I worked ft at 16, initially for my cousin in her hotel. For bed and board and a little spending money. It was fab being a Londoner and working the season in Cornwall (from the day after o levels finished!)

XelaM · 03/12/2023 10:14

My 13-year-old gets paid more working at the local livery yard.

She gets £20 for mucking out stables but finishes in around 2 hours maximum. It’s physically hard work though and very early start on a weekend.

CalistoNoSolo · 03/12/2023 10:17

Wages in this country are woeful. And all that bullshit from the BoE about we can't possibly be paid a proper wage because, idiots that we are, we'll just spend it all and inflation will never come down. And the badly educated electorate yucks it up, just like we're trained to do.

I think your son is learning excellent lessons, not least that most employers will take the piss, and to always negotiate his wage before starting work. He'll also gain confidence, something for his cv and tax free money. Good for him (and you).

Peablockfeathers · 03/12/2023 10:17

Mydpisgrumpierthanyours · 03/12/2023 10:05

Minimum wage is a joke as it is. I don't understand why they pay different wages for ages, if a 15 year old is doing the same job as a 50 year old they should be paid the same wage.

Because no one would employ the 15 year old who has tight legislation about what hours they can do etc and has zero work experience if they had to pay the same as someone who had probably extensive experience at 50 and less considerations around hours etc.

My fourteen year old DD gets £10 per hour babysitting so this feels very low indeed.

Well yes but the parents who pay 10 an hour don't have overheads and presumably don't have any of the financial obligations that come with having an employee. I've always paid more than this but then have always gone for OFSTED registered babysitters rather than 14 year olds

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 03/12/2023 10:19

YABU
he's 15, he's unskilled, and it's not much under minimum wage for 16 year olds. He's lucky to have a job, I wouldn't expect many places to pay under 16s much more than that.
Yes in a wider sense capitalism sucks etc but in the world we live in now, for a child still living at home and attending school, that wage is fine.

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 03/12/2023 10:20

Also £3ph in 1988 was a lot. I got £3ph in 1998 as a waitress. £4ph in 2001.

Flossflower · 03/12/2023 10:20

I usually tip the young lad that puts my stuff in the boot at the garden centre so hopefully he will make more in tips, especially as it gets near Christmas.

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 03/12/2023 10:21

Mydpisgrumpierthanyours · 03/12/2023 10:05

Minimum wage is a joke as it is. I don't understand why they pay different wages for ages, if a 15 year old is doing the same job as a 50 year old they should be paid the same wage.

Because 15 year olds are children, live at home and attend school meaning there are limits on their capacity to work. They also by definition have little experience whereas the 50yo could have 35 years of work experience. It's not the same.

Needmorelego · 03/12/2023 10:22

@TeenTraumaTrials that's quite unusual. I thought they were a mostly long gone thing.
Do you live in an area with a high population of older folks?

sparepantsandtoothbrush · 03/12/2023 10:25

Needmorelego · 03/12/2023 10:22

@TeenTraumaTrials that's quite unusual. I thought they were a mostly long gone thing.
Do you live in an area with a high population of older folks?

Not unusual where I live. We have 2 local corner shops who still have children doing newspaper rounds and there's a very long waiting list of 13/14/15 year olds willing to do it!

DonnaBanana · 03/12/2023 10:25

It’s £4.50 an hour more than he gets for going to school every day. It’ll be good for his character to build up a work ethic and see what it’s like in a menial job for a bit so he can get a proper job more easily as an adult

XelaM · 03/12/2023 10:34

Not sure I’d allow my 13-year-old to do paper rounds on her own in the early hours of the morning , but we live in London rather than a picturesque village where this might be less dangerous.

TheaBrandt · 03/12/2023 10:35

Spurs them onto work hard at school if they see what the alternative is…

SashaBIu · 03/12/2023 10:35

That's shite. My DD same age is on £10 per hour plus tips.

sawnotseen · 03/12/2023 10:37

Yes what @XelaM said. I used to pay the teens at my daughter's pony's yard, £2 to turn out, bring in and muck out (each task) and I really appreciated it when I couldn't get there. Ten years ago.

Needmorelego · 03/12/2023 10:37

@sparepantsandtoothbrush so I stand corrected about paper rounds 😂
Sales of printed newspapers and magazines are very low these days (and local freebie papers generally don't exist anymore) so I am surprised that paper rounds are still surviving.

sawnotseen · 03/12/2023 10:38

Agree with @XelaM . I wouldn't have had mine out working at 14.

fairygalaxy · 03/12/2023 10:39

It's ridiculous the job should be paid for the job not the age

Mummyme87 · 03/12/2023 10:40

It’s low yes but he’s under 16. when I was 16, 20yrs ago I was on £3.20 an hour and the following year in Next was around £4.20

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