My 16 yo has taken a job that has turned out to voluntary!

[Lemurlady]

My 16 yo DS has taken what he thought was a paid job at our local swimming club as a poolside helper with a view to doing his coaching qualifications. He had to do his DBS and a 3 hour safeguarding course in his own time. He has done his first month (2.5hours/week) and asked when he was getting paid. He has been told it’s voluntary for 6 months and after that they will decide whether to take him on at £8/hour. It was never mentioned in any of the email correspondence that it was unpaid. He did not sign a contract and got the gig because he used to swim at the club and reached out to them. AIBU to expect him to be paid for the hours he has done and in thinking this is very exploitative as it would seem the only way into coaching is to work for free for 6 months. Is it even legal?

Has your son quit? He should just not turn up.

The swimmers pay. It is not a cheap sport as it’s anywhere between £100-£200 per month per swimmer (down in SE England) in those in squads that have training most days so the club is being paid.

I think some sports clubs do this and just start again with another 16 year old after the 6 months. I know a soft play area near me only hires 16 year olds and after their unpaid probation, they just hire a new 16 year old! It's terrible.

As he has no contract, I'd tell him to stop immediately.

Seconded. Even voluntary posts often have a simple Company-Volunteer agreement or behavioural agreement, which is recommended practice (and having seen some charities that didn't have these to begin with, they are often needed and the lesson is learned in less pleasant ways, unfortunately). As safeguarding training was also necessary to go into the role, I would have expected the club to make this explicit as part of an agreement with an individual, too - it's slightly odd ground to have this just as a verbal 'Yes, they got training'.

(edited to add the Safeguarding sentence).

It's a growing trend. Even LInkedIn is pushing adverts for "internships" which are - usually - clearly non paying positions.

I'll be prepared to give the benefit of the doubt when I read an AIBU in which someone took a position they thought was voluntary but then had a paycheque forced on them as they were going to leave.

If he's a poolside helper then he needs a contract to show what he is responsible for. Is it just tidying up discarded towels or is there any sort of lifeguarding stuff? If the latter then need to know that this club has proper liability, proper trained people and so on. If they don't, your son should stay away.

Well done him on looking for a job and, he thought, getting one. But this is a volunteer post and he should only continue if he's happy with that and you are happy with the responsibilities on both sides that should be set out in writing.

Thanks for this I looked this up on the gov.uk website and it says if there’s a promise of paid work then this potentially counts as employment and as so you entitled to minimum wage. I’m going to contact acas for clarity.

Quit and report them.

I think the Govt are trying to cut down on this ' slave labour' type arrangement.

It's the same with internships, with graduates working for free for unlimited periods of time in the hope that they get ahead of the queue when a real job gets advertised. This is used a lot in popular work areas like the arts and publishing.

It unfairly favours young people from rich families who can support them living in London for 6 months unpaid for example; 'opportunities' that are just not realistic to most graduates and families.

He needs to ask how many people in the same role as him have been there longer than 6mo.

This really isn't on. It is nothing short of free labour.

My DD used to work P/T at a local swim school. The first 6 weeks were unpaid, but after that she did receive payment.

6 months is taking the mickey.

Sounds like what most sports clubs do. Certainly the gymnastics and dance clubs my children attend have unpaid teenagers helping to instruct. It may have been a misunderstanding or they may have been dishonest.

They are taking the massive piss.

What's the betting they will dismiss ds once the 6 months are up! Then rinse and repeat with the next so called 'volunteer'.

6 months is a bit long to be unpaid! I can understand a month but not 6 months! Bless him, feel sorry for him.

It’s what most swim/ sports clubs do though they should’ve been upfront about it. My niece was a swimmer, came through a club and when she showed interested in doing her coaching (she was 15) she had to do 40 hours volunteering and then the club paid for her level 1.

How cheeky. I guess he can quit

It is easier to get a job from a job. His DBS and safety training (including the fact that he was prepared to pay for them) will stand to him.

If he starts looking for a new job now, while keeping up with what he's doing, thereby demonstrating he has all those skills (punctuality, working with colleagues, being agreeable and trustworthy), he'll get something that is paid, and that can in turn get him what he actually wants. Well done him for taking on work.

2.5 hours voluntary work a week is great experience for a 16 year old but, as pp have said, it needs to be made absolutely clear at the beginning. I would have thought he would have been issued with written/online guidelines as his role ‘as a volunteer.’ Informal arrangements like this shouldn’t happen as the club have a responsibility to both workers and volunteers to protect them but also the organisation. They are leaving themselves open to all sorts.

It may not be the club's fault that he misunderstood if he 'reached out to them' asking for experience as a pool helper.

Absolutely report them.
Disgusting, exploitive behaviour.
Of course they know bloody well they should have made the VOLUNTEER nature of the post 100% clear.
I would be absolutely furious.
I hate the way some businesses and organisations think they can use and take advantage of teens.
No way would I let that go.

He’s 16 and can legally work as a lifeguard and many areas are desperate for lifeguards so he should be able to get paid work. I’d chalk it up to experience and get him clued up on work contracts etc and use the club as a reference (so don’t fall out with them). He could also look for work as a buddy to a disabled child I’ve tried and failed to find someone to take my autistic young adult son swimming / to gym while I did a class despite being able pay £13 hour using social care funding. He could advertise on local Sen parent groups if he’s confident buddying those with additional needs. For future reference if he decided to coach there is a huge untapped market in teaching kids with Sen to swim. I’ve sat on waiting lists and never reached the top once teachers know my son is autistic.

Is he getting a coaching qualification out of it?
That might be worth something and he could take that elsewhere and get a lot more than £8 an hour.
Otherwise, any lifeguard training courses around? You can do that in a week and lifeguards usually get £11-12 an hour.

Obviously free labour? Of course there is a benefit. They get sufficient labour for six months then dump and repeat.

I'm going to take a different view. Obviously it should be clear at the outset, but isn't all amateur sport run by volunteers and as DS has benefited from the work of volunteers himself, it would be good to give a few hours back. Possibly the club believe it's widely known this work is done by volunteers and that's what it wasn't explicit?

It would be entirely different if this was a commercial entity, but it's not.

Not if he leaves as soon as finding out it's unpaid.

@pikkumyy77
the club doesn’t really get free labour. The volunteer is extra and isn’t counted in the ratios of Level 1/Level 2 coaches and lifeguards. So it’s not like they replace a paid worker for a volunteer. You have to show that you have experience/ are training on the job when going for a coaching qualification.