Minimum wage - am I an apprentice?

hjdowning

Hello, I am employed as a trainee electrician, I take part in evening classes to complete the technical part of my qualification. I an not enrolled in an apprenticeship program and pay for the course myself.

Looking at my pay slip I can see I'm paid £7.50 per hour which is below the £8.72 minimum wage, unless I qualify for an apprentice's wage, in which case I could be paid as little as £4.14 in my first year of study.
My question: regarding minimum wage what is the definition of an "apprentice" does it simply mean anyone unqualified in training or does it only apply to people in a formal government subsidised training program?

If you have any information, I would be very grateful if it could be backed up with a reputable source so I can reference it when discussing with employer.

Thrugelmir

How old are you?  That will be a major factor. 

Lomast

How old are you? The £8.72 is the min wage for 25+

Lomast

I believe you have to be on a recognised apprenticeship to only get the apprentice wage

Dox

hjdowning said:

Hello, I am employed as a trainee electrician, I take part in evening classes to complete the technical part of my qualification. I an not enrolled in an apprenticeship program and pay for the course myself.

Looking at my pay slip I can see I'm paid £7.50 per hour which is below the £8.72 minimum wage, unless I qualify for an apprentice's wage, in which case I could be paid as little as £4.14 in my first year of study.
My question: regarding minimum wage what is the definition of an "apprentice" does it simply mean anyone unqualified in training or does it only apply to people in a formal government subsidised training program?

If you have any information, I would be very grateful if it could be backed up with a reputable source so I can reference it when discussing with employer.

Doesn't sound as if you are an apprentice within the meaning of the scheme: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentice/what-is-an-apprenticeship.

Wage rates here: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates

Nick212010

I had a similar experience of paying for a course myself while my peers had their apprenticeship subsidised. (Rules regarding apprenticeships were different at the time, and I had earned a Level 6 bachelor’s degree from a previous life.)

As mentioned above, it sounds like you’re not on an apprenticeship scheme and you should be paid the minimum wage which varies on age. 

Does your employer pay you when you’re in college? (I know some that do!)
Does your payslip specifically state an hourly rate, or are you dividing your gross pay by the amount of hours you do?
How many hours are you actually working if your employer does/does not pay you while in college.

oh_really

Trainee electrician is around £13ph


https://www.jib.org.uk/documents/publications/149-jib-industrial-determination-2017-to-2020.pdf

Are you unionised?

Lomast

You might get that on a big site but I know of fully qualified  electricians  working for small  firms on not much more than that, that was one of the reasons I never worked as an electrician  despite qualifying, maintenance  engineering pays better

oh_really

Maintenance is my substantive role and I can say in all honesty the maintenance employers pretty much mirrored JIB/ SJIB rates at approved electrician level.

Brynsam

The link to wage rates was provided on 29 July - see Dox's post above.