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?

Is DS in full time education as well as this?

Have you got anything in writing to say it was paid?

Steep learning curve for him. He should have asked the salary when he was offered. Did the advert state it was unpaid? Poor thing

Bet any "training" isn't formal or leading to any qualification either.

I wouldn’t get excited. Only costs about £18 for volunteer DBS. Enhanced DBS for staff cost about £50.

Our swimming club is run completely by volunteers - committee, coaches, teachers, everyone. As are the majority in the leagues we compete in.

What I would suggest though is to see if the local authority employee lifeguards. Cours is about 300-400 quid. Some offer for free if you promise to work for them.

DD just qualified as a lifeguard and an Assistant Coach. Can't do Coach qualification until she's 18 so not looking at a swim teacher qualification instead.

David Lloyd and places pay really well for lifeguards and teachers.

I do DBSs for volunteers - there is a question asking if it can/will lead you a paid role. If you answer yes you get charged, if no then it's free.

So if they got the DBS for free they either intend to not empty him or lied on the application.

Modern day slavery. It seems the fitness industry is a bit dodgy when it comes to getting free labour. A lot of the budget gyms are the same. They have the downright cheek to boast about their profits which they only achieve by not paying their staff.

I wouldn’t get into the legalities of it. He can just quit if he was not aware that it would be voluntary and doesn’t want to do it on that basis.

It sounds like a mid communication rather than fraud. A lot of youth positions at sports clubs like this are unpaid as the business isn’t profit making, whether football coaching, helping at athletics etc. Young people use for experience or DofE as you suggest. Perhaps his enquiry wasn’t clear he wanted a paid position which is frustrating but a life lesson. Hope he can find a paid role.

Many clubs are largely run with volunteers.

Without a written contract acas or similar is just a waste of time, and it Will be blamed on miscommunication.

Either quit , but know you are burning bridges at the club
, or carry on if it is a wanted skill for experience/ CV / side hustle.

It should have been made clear at the start that it was unpaid. My 17 year old daughter has been working as a poolside helper for a council run pool since she turned 16. She does 2.5 hours Saturday mornings for which she is paid and furthermore they are paying for her Level 1 and Level 2 training so she can qualify as a swim teacher. Maybe he could look for a pool that pays as he will now have a cv with experience on it so will be a step ahead of other applicants.

My kids swim at a club and I have never known such a bunch of incompetent people. Steer well away they know exactly what they are doing!

Not what he was expecting but at 2.5 hours a week and the (paid by them?) training he's done it will show amazing commitment on his CV. Meanwhile he could get another job

After I graduated I did some volunteering work alongside any job I could get while seeking out a properly qualified one and this experience was vital in securing my future career.

He does 10 hours a month.
That's 60 hours over the 6.months

Effectively that's 2 weeks work which seems not an unreasonable evaluation period.

He's 16.
It's good to volunteer
He's not being exploited

If he's enjoying it, then it's excellent and he gets a CV boost as well.

He's also learned a valuable lesson about the job application process.

Oh I would not be happy!
Six months is a long time when he could be doing same hours at local supermarket/shop and getting minimum wage.
Thry are definitely taking the piss!

The problem is that they weren't upfront about it being a voluntary role initially. It was only after he completed the first month that he was told. That's dodgy as fuck

It’s only dodgy if there was ever an indication on either side that it would be a paid role, given that it is something that is almost always voluntary. If his original email asked if there were any paid opportunities at the club, and they invited him to come along and didn’t mention for a month it was voluntary, then yes it is dodgy. If he asked if he could come and be a poolside helper with a view to doing coach training, but didn’t mention he was hoping for paid employment, and they gave no indication in response that they would pay him, then it isn’t dodgy.

This isn’t a job that has been advertised and then turned out not to be what it seemed, he approached them.

Just a thought - what is his insurance position? He could get hurt. A pool user could. Is he left alone poolside - even for short periods?

Does he have a contract that mentions these issues? Employer liability usually covers this sort of thing.

All the coaches at my daughters club are not paid, even head coach.

It’s a life lesson to your son to check terms of employment before he starts.

he can look at it two ways, leave and get something that’s paid elsewhere or stick at it unpaid whilst gaining valuable experience and something that will look brilliant on his CV as a voluntary job. Perhaps you can ask around and see what the other young coaches are doing, how long have they been there? Is there a contract for volunteers? You need to do some more asking around on his behalf I think.

No this is simply not true. In our county I can only name one club where head coach is paid. Ours is 100% voluntary! We have about 15 coaches.

He should get a NPLQ and get a job as a lifeguard. At the pool my DD works at the lifeguards are involved in the swimming lessons and swimming club and are paid (at 16) well above NMW (DD is 17 and gets £14-15 an hour). Oh, and a DBS takes <3 weeks.

Teenagers are a bit clueless about work, DD1 didn't realise that on a casual contract she had to claim for her hours worked, or that her training was paid as well. All the things adults take for granted they have to learn.

I remember doing huge amounts of voluntary work at that age to build up my CV. I guess it depends how much he needs the experience. Also a reference at the end of it. How many hours a week is it?

At 16 your son can train to be a life guard. 5 day course. My daughter did this and gets paid at a local sports center (minimum wage). Looking to take her swim coach qualifications, which seems to require experience which is unpaid until they are qualified.

So get a job at a supermarket 🤦🏻‍♀️

Our club pays the head coach and will pay qualified coaches and swim teachers as long as they are the actual ‘coach’ rather than a helper (most sessions have 2 proper coaches, who can be swim teachers if they are lower level swimmers or are assisting). We consider it to be important to give the kids paid employment but not those who have no qualifications. DH volunteers as a coach and is qualified, he also does a whole heap of admin as a volunteer.

If you don’t want to do voluntary work then don’t - it’s entirely a choice.

Echo two comments - firstly if he wants a paid job then lifeguarding is good and DD has done that. Also second comment of 16 year olds being clueless - dd1 ended up with the opposite problem, too many hours that she then couldn’t change.