HELP PLEASE! Bro's boss not paying up...

schpic

Basically he was hoping to do an apprenticeship to be a mechanic and got a placement at a garage which turned out to be as bent as they come. My brother has been told he should either be getting a training allowance (if he goes to college...his boss wont let him) and if not a full proper wage. Hes being getting £50 a week for full hours (9 to 5 ish), he's not going to college like i said so he should be getting minimum wage right? He's 17 by the way. Any advice on what to do next would be great, he loves cars, and we reckon because we've asked the boss about it he's gonna get fired. What can we do??

tom188

He should be receiving.

_HMRC_Website wrote:

Apprentices

From pay reference periods starting on or after 1 October 2006 the special rules for apprentices will be extended to apprentices aged over 25. This will mean that:

* Apprentices under age 19 will not qualify for the national minimum wage
* Apprentices over age 19 and in the first 12 months of their apprenticeship will not qualify for the national minimum wage.

Otherwise

HMRC_website wrote:

£3.30 per hour for all workers under the age of 18, who are no longer of compulsory school age.

Does he have a contract? How is he paid? Is his employment described as apprenticeship even without the college trip?

If he has been there a while and picked up some experience can he not try looking for another job?

Mikeyorks

Regrettably such employers .. in this case small, but others much larger .. rely on fear or apathy to continue getting away with it.

He can either put up with it -- or do something about it? The NMW legislation / enforcement is vested in HMRC. You can contact them online as here :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/complaint.htm

...... or write / phone :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/help.htm#b

Missy79

You need to establish whether your brother is actually an apprentice or not as this changes the amount of pay he should receive. It sounds more like his employer has seen the opportunity to get cheap labour by advertising for an "apprentice", if this is the case then your brother should be paid minimum wage at least. If this is the case then he can claim any money he is owed to meet minimum wage requirements.
There is something called an Employer led apprenticeship where at least £80 is paid, although it doesn't sound like he is on this scheme either.
This may help:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/TrainingAndWorkBasedLearning/TrainingAndWorkbasedLearningArticles/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4001327&chk=N2pGKb
(hope this works,it's the first time i've tried it )

Hope you can work out what is going on.