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?

My DS is a PT swim instructor. The leisure centre paid for his training which cost thousands I believe, and he’s tied in through a contract to deliver lessons. This was agreed whilst he was at uni. One thing I would ask is about insurance. Is he covered for himself and others? Training staff up is a big commitment but it doesn’t have to be exploitative.

I must add he also gets paid very well but he’s had to demonstrate a commitment/sign a contract for them to fund his qualifications

They are taking advantage. My son works as pool side assistant and gets min wage for his age. If he is good enough they will pay for his teaching qualification.

I've worked as a swim teacher at a leisure centre where there is also a swim club. There does seem to be a lot of volunteers at the swim clubs. I'd recommend contacting the local leisure centre and they will pay for the swim assistant / teacher course with a contract to work for them.

I am chair of a swimming club and none of our poolside helpers are paid. Only one coaching position is paid. Everyone else involved in the club is a volunteer. I would imagine this is a similar model across the country tbh. Pool hire is astronomical and we would be unaffordable for families if everyone was paid to help poolside. However the issue is that your child didn't know that and expected it to be paid. I think he needs to look elsewhere for a job.

I'm a bit confused; Did he get the "role" through the swim club or by the leisure centre (you can tell by who oversaw the DBS check if DS is vague).

If he approached the club for the role it is very unlikely that he will get paid; at a push maybe a fee reduction (but I think you said he isn't swimming). At DD's old club it is the sort of role the teens do for their DofE volunteering.

DD went on to become a lifeguard (Leisure Centre paid). Maybe this experience helped her get the role, I'm not sure. She has said that it was really valuable experience to get her used to chatting to anybody and also to be a voice of authority when required to.

If there was an advert and a recruitment process, I think you might have a valid point but it sounds to me as if your DS might have had the wrong end of the stick.

That’s a piss take! In 6 months they’ll let him go and replace him for more free labour.

Will the training for his coaching qualification be free

My DC used to go to a swimming club and it was run by volunteers, despite all DC having to pay subs and amateur swimming association membership so they could enter galas.
It may be a genuine misunderstanding.
But it is very upsetting for your DS especially as the club do pay their coaches.
My friend had a similar issue when her DD coached football for the younger age group.
It is a piss take if they usually pay their coaches, it's only not a piss take if everyone is a volunteer like at guides or scouts etc.
Your DS has 2 choices, suck it up or leave.
Probably depends how much he really wants/needs the experience.
Can he find another club that will pay for his time?
There is an increasing number of formerly paid jobs that are now volunteer roles, such as national trust, museums, zoos, conservation projects etc
A wildlife park near us was looking for VOLUNTEER cleaners for their very very expensive holiday lodges ffs!!
But young people are so desperate to get a foothold in their field they will do it for free or retired people will do it for fun/social interaction.

There are thousands of paramedics and ambulance crew volunteers supporting the NHS via orgs like St John Ambulance.

There is absolutely nothing the OP has said that suggests this could not be considered a volunteering role (presumably his role differs in responsibility to those being paid).

It's a lesson for your DS. How much did he think he was going to be paid, and on what basis, as a salary/hourly rate was clearly never written down.

Now he's 16 he could do his lifeguarding qualification and get a paid job doing that? The month he spent volunteering would be good on his CV

It's odd that the pay wouldn't come up before. But it is pretty normal for clubs to be reliant on volunteers. When we get teens coming to our scout group as Young Leaders it wouldn't cross my mind to tell them it isn't paid.

Poolside helpers would never be paid at a swimming club. You’d need to be a qualified coach. Some clubs don’t even pay them.

Cheeky gits. Tell him to throw
in the towel - literally.

Who paid for him to do the qualification to coach swimming? I was a volunteer at a local swim club many years ago. I did it for 8 years. Th club paid for me to do swim coaching qualifications and First Aid Certificate. I got paid after 6 months. I think if I'd paid for my own courses I'd have got paid after 3 months.

I’m a Welfare Officer with a grassroots swimming club. Poolside helper is definitely a volunteer role in our swimming club. Usually it’s either parents of swimmers or kids wanting either a bit of experience in coaching or as part of their service element for D of E. We pay for their DBS checks and safeguarding courses if we need them. We only pay our Level 2 coaches and we need one poolside at all club sessions. Level 1 coaches are all volunteers.

Edited for spelling and grammar

Did they ask for a national insurance number. If they didn't they couldn't of paid him anyway.

My daughter had similar at gymnastics except they said it was unpaid, paid for her to do her gym coach exams , and gave her free gymnastics saving us £85 a month so we gave her the £85 we were saving. They also loved and appreciated her and were always turning up with cake / treats/ silly bits to show their appreciation. Yours is taking the piss. Even if unpaid they should be up front and give something to show their appreciation.

I have been involved with swimming clubs my whole life. I have never known poolside helpers to be paid, they are usually teenagers getting volunteer experience or parents helping out. Did they actually offer him a job? Or did they just say he could help out on poolside with a view to doing his qualification.

I’m a member of a swimming club committee, and have a 16 year old DS who has been a poolside helper for a couple of years. We pay our qualified coaches, but not those with an assistant coach qualification or poolside helpers who are unqualified (but need DBS and safeguarding once they are 16). We do support those who are long term poolside helpers if they want to gain a coaching qualification, and the club has just paid for the majority of my DS’s assistant coach course. I’m surprised a club would pay their poolside helpers. Will they pay for his assistant coach course if he is planning to do that soon?

In my club, only the head coach receives pay, and that’s minimum wage. The coaches receive a small discount if their kids swim and the poolside helpers are volunteers for which the club will pay for the coaching course fees (as they do with all coaches, along with DBS). Not all clubs are the same and the Swim England salary you mentioned likely only applies to a few large clubs.

Six weeks voluntary? Sure. Six months voluntary? Complete exploitation IMO. I'd bet my last ten pounds they decide to not keep many on as the Six months comes up.

Did you say there was no contract too? DC1 had to sign a plethora of documents for their volunteer job. Major red flags with that one OP. Seems like they're taking advantage of young ones who wouldn't always be the ways of work etc.

This almost happened to me when I was about 18. The interview took place, and it was more like him trying to convince me to do the job than him asking questions.

I asked me what the pay was going to be, and he said to check with the job centre.

The cheek of people wanting to use people for free and not tell them!

If your son needs to do these hours for the qualification, I would say to carry on. If not, to leave. There is no guarantee he will get a job. I hope he got free swimming sessions out of it at least!

Tricky. I mean there’s plenty of people who “work” for clubs that are basically volunteers. Think of netball coaches, football coaches, etc. And some that aren’t, e.g. people taking lessons. So really not so much exploitation, it’s the model. Most the fees go on premises hire.