Help please - Hairdressing apprentiships

jojo1973

My dd has been working in a hairdressers since work experience firstly as a saturday and school holiday basis then on leaving school at 16 she was employed as a hairdressing apprentice earning roughly 450 a month and attending day release college.

Shes now got the qualification and is 18 so we expected her to receive a proper pay rise. However now they say they will pay her on the apprentice rate until she's 19 and then it will be minimum wage???! Well actually they said it wouldnt be quite MW but she'd get a rise

If they employed a cleaner they'd have to pay minimum wage and DD has worked hard and seems like for nothing! They also stopped paying her through bacs and give her a cheque on the very last day of the month.

I think there is something well dodgy going on here, shes no longer attending college so is no longer an appretice shes qualified and they wont even give her the MW?

Has anyone else done apprentice course or are you an employer, this doesnt sound right at all

skintscotslass

What part of the country are you? England, Scotland, Wales or N Ireland?

jojo1973

We're in england

jamiecg

Would need some more information (IE level and start date of course) but from past experience as a apprentice and a manager supervising apprentices this crops up a bit. The Apprentice is valid for a certain amount of time (Normally 1 year for apprentice, 2 for advanced apprentice but have even heard of 3 year apprentices) these are full years. A lot of college courses finish and signt he apprentice off, however the apprentice contract will still run up until the end of the origional agreement. The college section of the contract is just the what you need to know, it is in the placement where experience is gained and the employer normally asks for a few months (from college to the end of training agreement) where the employee is working for the apprentice wage as the employer has supported the staff member through the training so your dd will have to look at her origional training agreement / contract. However once the agreement is finished it is law for her to be paid nmw.

Hammyman

jojo1973 wrote: »

I think there is something well dodgy going on here, shes no longer attending college so is no longer an appretice shes qualified and they wont even give her the MW?

Doesn't work like that. The length of apprenticeships in any trade is not dictated by the length of college courses but by the individual company doing the apprenticeship. She has a bit of paper saying she knows the basics but that is all it is.

Oldernotwiser

This link to a Low Pay Commission report explains that,

"The current National Minimum Wage Regulations provide for certain categories of apprentice to be exempt from the National Minimum Wage. For the purpose of the National Minimum Wage, an apprentice is a worker who either has a contract of apprenticeship or is taking part in a specified government apprenticeship scheme. The exemption applies to apprentices aged under 19 and those aged 19 or over in the first 12 months of their training."

http://www.lowpay.gov.uk/lowpay/lowpay2010/chapter6.shtml

paulwf

jojo1973 wrote: »

DD has worked hard and seems like for nothing!

Although she needs to clarify the pay situation in the short term she hasn't wasted her time. If she is fully qualified presumably she can now move on and find a new employer? Her current employer probably just want a stream of cheap apprenticeship cannon fodder, they've got a bargain and your dd got paid while she trained so both sides benefited. Now it is time to move on and move up a level of employers.

saintjammyswine

jamiecg wrote: »

Would need some more information (IE level and start date of course) but from past experience as a apprentice and a manager supervising apprentices this crops up a bit. The Apprentice is valid for a certain amount of time (Normally 1 year for apprentice, 2 for advanced apprentice but have even heard of 3 year apprentices) these are full years. A lot of college courses finish and signt he apprentice off, however the apprentice contract will still run up until the end of the origional agreement. The college section of the contract is just the what you need to know, it is in the placement where experience is gained and the employer normally asks for a few months (from college to the end of training agreement) where the employee is working for the apprentice wage as the employer has supported the staff member through the training so your dd will have to look at her origional training agreement / contract. However once the agreement is finished it is law for her to be paid nmw.

Sorry, not quite right.

She will be an apprentice until she has completed all elements of the apprenticeship framework. So once all NVQ, ERR and any Key Skills are completed and can be eveidenced by either certificate or evidence of claim for certificate then the apprenticeship framework will be claimed for. This is the point she is no longer an apprentice, regardless of when she finished the taught college element.

jamiecg

saintjammyswine wrote: »

Sorry, not quite right.

She will be an apprentice until she has completed all elements of the apprenticeship framework. So once all NVQ, ERR and any Key Skills are completed and can be eveidenced by either certificate or evidence of claim for certificate then the apprenticeship framework will be claimed for. This is the point she is no longer an apprentice, regardless of when she finished the taught college element.

After employing many apprentices and also working with them after being an apprentice myself then unfortunatly you are incorrect in this case, The Apprentice may be completed once all the NVQ, ERR and Key Skills are completed but the origional post is about the apprentice contract with the employer, the apprentice contract is at the discretion of the employer regardless of when all the framework is completed, I personally finished my level 3 in 6 months but still had to work as an apprentice till the end of the 12 month contract. The op needs to check her daughters training contract with the hairdressers as origionally stated

Thanks

saintjammyswine

OK, accept that but she wont actually be an 'official apprentice' it will simply be a job title and so the NMW for apprentices will not apply.