To pay 16 year olds cash-in-hand to waitress

[Coffeeandgranola]

We're having a BBQ in the garden in a couple of weeks. We do this every year for friends and their kids, and normally there are around 30-40 who come. DP and I always run around mad trying to make sure food and drinks are topped up etc.

I plan on offering a good friend's 16 year old daughter £30 for the afternoon to help take orders/serve BBQ food, keep drinks topped up, run around with a binbag here and there to keep on top of the mess - plus invite a sensible friend in her year of her choosing to help, too.

It seems a win-win as we get extra hands plus the 16 year olds get some 'paid experience' to help get a cafe job or whatever, which I know they are all keen to do. My pause is there will be beers and wine/prosecco, perhaps some g&t type drinks (which we would pre-mix), amongst what people will be drinking.

WIBU to think it's fine for the 16 year olds to serve these out as part of what they're doing, without us getting into any kind of bother? It's a day-time family event with food and kids games as well, so not at all a booze-up environment. DP a bit unsure though.

I don't see anything wrong with it ! If their parents are fine with it. I would have jumped at that at 16 😂 however that was 30 years ago I'm not sure if 16 year olds would want paying more these days 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ofcourse you aren’t being unreasonable. Isnt this how must kids start earning money??

£30 to do all that is taking the piss a bit. £50 each minimum and you might have a deal.

I work events most weekends and some I go to use 16 year old friends daughters to do jobs such as tidying up, easy drinks, sort rubbish etc. Of course there's no problem with it.

They couldnt serve alcoholic drinks in a pub but i dont know if that translates to paid employment on a casual basis in your garden! It certainly doesnt count as experience on a CV as you suggest though.

I'd just remove the serving drinks bit from her job role and let someone else do that. Saves any hassle or anyone taking advantage of the girl.

In a restaurant if you are under 18 you cannot serve alcohol.
I am sure no one is going to mind if you do it in your own home.

Even if they technically shouldn't be serving alcohol (no idea of the rules, especially when you aren't charging for it), it's not like anyone will be reporting you for a casual arrangement like this.

Yes I think that's ok. How many hours are you thinking, for the £30?

Are you paying them 30 quid each?

That sounds ok. How many hours though?

As long as you mean £30 each, and are they going to get to eat and drink too? I think no more than 5 hours either for £30.

@BruceWillissDribble of course it’s an example of an activity you could use on a cv to get a first Saturday type job.

My son is 16 and works in a pub,he earns £7.50hr,plus tips. 30 sounds fine

£30 seems cheap for an all day affair

It's a great life lesson for them... You have to work to survive in this world. ✅

Actually they can serve drinks, they just can’t take payment for alcohol

Glad to see the main concern is generally whether £30 is enough to pay them, rather than the point of them keeping glasses of wine or beer topped up 😂 I will update DP on this interesting development.

£30 was purely based on the brief logic of a tenner an hour for 3 hours or so, at a BBQ my friend's daughter would otherwise be coming along to anyway (and I would normally be offering her to bring a friend to to keep her company as the other kids are all a bit younger). The compensation package would include a lift to and from the BBQ plus a free lunch! I will absolutely chat with them about their pay expectations, though 😂

I'm sure a casual agreement is fine. But obviously £30 each yes? And I'd think that would cover about 4 hours max.

Fair dos i never knew that. Maybe explains some of the babyfaced waitresses at Spoons!

It's a private party and you aren't selling the alcohol. It's nobody else's business what you do in your own home

This is a long time ago but I used to work at functions, and while I couldn't sell alcohol I could deliver it to the tables. I really can't see it being an issue in a private venue.

£30 was a rate of pay I picked without a huge amount of thought, for the purpose of this post, with 3-4 hours' work in mind (this is how long my friend will be coming along for who would be bringing them). But yes, it was definitely intended as "each". I will chat with my friend about the exact rate of pay her daughter would go for!

I don't see a problem with that as such, but I'd be paying them more than £30 each - more like £50. Keeping 30-40 guests topped up with food and drinks for several hours means they're on the go for a fair while and will have to be pretty on the ball. Or, lay out a table with drinks and invite guests to help themselves - leaving the teens to simply sort the food.

Pay them as little as you want. Your £10/hour is way above minimum wage for that age.

16 year olds can serve alcohol in a work environment however they cannot make the decision as to whether or not the person they are serving is over 18 - they are supposed to confirm with someone else for each person they serve.
However if you are asking them to work 4 hours you are only offering £7:50 per hour & whilst this is above minimum wage (for the age group) it's quite poor, particularly as you expect them to be busy for the whole time

I have 17 yr old who gets national minimum wage so 6.40 at put local hotel for doing similar . £30 for 4 hours is ok! She also serves champagne and wine with meals but can't work the bar yet so you should be fine. It's the payment they can't do and age verification ( assuming yr guests who.are drinking all look over 21).