My daughter is 14 and has been a poolside assistant since May. She works 1 hour per week and is paid £5. She is basically in the pool with young children and assists them during their swimming lesson. She ensures they don't get into difficulty and supports them if they become scared or upset.

She has been told that she needs mandatory lifesaver training to continue with the job but it will cost her £90 to do the 7 hour course and won't get paid for her time either. This means that it would take her 18 weeks to pay for the course. We were told she would need training but not at our own cost. I thought that mandatory training for a specific job should be paid for by the employer and possibly paid the hours?

Surely their request isn't legal and it's an employers responsibility to provide the training? Please advise

Sad that. Poor kid earning a few quid,now that sounds like exploitation £90 for a course! I'd probably do a few flyers and let the parents of the kids she helps know what's going on. They pay for these lessons i presume?

Yes the parents do pay and it's not cheap. I've also just found out that the company who employs her is also the company that provides the lifesaver training!!!

Sounds as though they have just realised that they might be vulnerable to litigation if anything were to happen and your daughter is not qualified. Sadly there is no automatic right for either the employer to pay for the course or for paid time off to complete the course. Desperately unfair, and of course any 'reasonable' employer should at least make a contribution, but that is the way it is sadly.

Thanks for the advice. I did email him and politely asked if it could be free or subsidised given that he was the one supplying the training and she was only 14. He said it was his duty to have highly skilled staff hence the need for training but I said surely he should invest in his staff to.

I'm not sure of the legalities but I didn't think a 14 year old could do a 7 hour training session due to working hour regulations.

I agree with you, £90 is a bit much considering she is a 14 year old getting paid £5 an hour. She may be better off letting this job go.

What a rotten company!

When I undertook training as a swimming teacher as part of my involvement with a youth organisation, my employer, a university whose facilities were used for the training, paid for me to attend. It also paid for children over 14 to train as livesavers/lifeguards who had an association with the pool by way of being a pupil at a school using it and gave free swimming lessons to other school children on our training sessions as it then allowed them to call upon a much larger pool of casual staff when needed.

I would then teach others for free to compensate for the benefit I had previously received if need be.

Perhaps an offer of this kind, ie work 2 hours and get paid for 1 for a fixed period could be possible? If they wont consider that then she would be better off paying to train elsewhere just to make the point.

My daughter is 14 and has been a poolside assistant since May. She works 1 hour per week and is paid £5. She is basically in the pool with young children and assists them during their swimming lesson. She ensures they don't get into difficulty and supports them if they become scared or upset.

 

She has been told that she needs mandatory lifesaver training to continue with the job but it will cost her £90 to do the 7 hour course and won't get paid for her time either. This means that it would take her 18 weeks to pay for the course. We were told she would need training but not at our own cost. I thought that mandatory training for a specific job should be paid for by the employer and possibly paid the hours?

 

Surely their request isn't legal and it's an employers responsibility to provide the training? Please advise

It is also for her futureto have one and this is not employer's responsibility but parent's as well because at 14 she is still minor. I can't even imagine to send my 14 year old to work. Even assisstants must be qualified, the company is not in the wrong. Imagine them to employee much more experienced assisstant. It looks like this is a false entitlement.

Noah1, you say even assistants have to be qualified- no they dont, it is just necessary to have enough trained/qualified people about for a given number of pool users. Even this is a guideline and unenforceable by law for private property but as with all things insurance and common law tort come into it so one had better have an very good alternative if it is decided to follow a different path.

The cynic in me thinks that perhaps they are thinking of letting go the qualified person to replace with the 14 year old as her wages would be a lot lower and it may be several years before the minimum wage can be imposed.

The cynic in me thinks that perhaps they are thinking of letting go the qualified person to replace with the 14 year old as her wages would be a lot lower and it may be several years before the minimum wage can be imposed.

I'd be inclined to agree.

It's in the company's interest to train her and employ her paying less than minimum wage(?).

Guys, with the best will in the world, this is an advice thread, although we haven't seen the OP since 26th October.

I'm going to move the off topic posts to a thread in the Bear Garden and then we can discuss how things were when we lived in a cardboard box in the road.

HB

Guys, with the best will in the world, this is an advice thread, although we haven't seen the OP since 26th October.

 

I'm going to move the off topic posts to a thread in the Bear Garden and then we can discuss how things were when we lived in a cardboard box in the road.

 

HB

I agree, but please leave my advise which is not from card board box as whenever somebody is off the topic, you targeted me so far., which I din't appreciate.

'You've updated me about history and I'm not arguing it because I wasn't born yet back then. The things have moved on a bit in the Western world though and statistically not many 14 years old in Europe have to work. It's about mentality because I as a parent would pay for training of my child and wouldn't expect taxpayers or employer to do so. Christmas is coming so it is reasonable to invest into a future of a child. In addition, I wouldn't wish to send my child to learn swimming and to be assisted by another 14 year old child assistants because of potential risks.

On the other token as far as my knowledge goes, certain pool assistants must be over 16 so in some workplaces this would be even illegal.'

Noah, I'm not targeting you, I'm just trying to get help for the OP if they come back.

The new thread is in the BG.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?471353-Discussion-thread-on-our-jobs-when-we-were-young

HB

Noah, I'm not targeting you, I'm just trying to get help for the OP if they come back.

 

The new thread is in the BG.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?471353-Discussion-thread-on-our-jobs-when-we-were-young

 

HB

I gave advice, others gave here a history lesson and let's move on but it was the same case with other threads so yes you were unfair to me so far.

I'd just like to thank you all for your helpful advice.

My daughter is a very keen and strong swimmer and was asked if she would be willing to do the job which is why she ended up doing it. She has 2 younger siblings so is very good with children and I have also accompanied her during the hour of work and I am confident to vouch that she could cope with minor incidents. I agree with another post though that I would not be confident with her being the person in charge but their qualified swimming instructor does that job.

I am happy for her to work the hour a week as it gives her a little bit of pocket money and gives her a good work ethic. I would rather her do that than a paper round if I'm honest.

I appreciate all of your responses, many thanks

PS, I'm sorry it took a little while to respond to the thread x

PS, I'm sorry it took a little while to respond to the thread x

Not a problem, I hope it's helped?

HB

It was interesting to read other people's views.

She is my eldest daughter and I'm still on a bit of a parenting learning journey too. I would he happy to contribute towards some training costs for the accreditation but I just felt that asking for a £90 was a bit steep given her age, hours worked and amount she is paid.

Thanks

It was interesting to read other people's views.

 

She is my eldest daughter and I'm still on a bit of a parenting learning journey too. I would he happy to contribute towards some training costs for the accreditation but I just felt that asking for a £90 was a bit steep given her age, hours worked and amount she is paid.

 

Thanks

Christmas is coming so it is reasonable to invest into a future of your child.

I agree, but please leave my advise which is not from card board box as whenever somebody is off the topic, you targeted me so far., which I din't appreciate.

 

'You've updated me about history and I'm not arguing it because I wasn't born yet back then. The things have moved on a bit in the Western world though and statistically not many 14 years old in Europe have to work. It's about mentality because I as a parent would pay for training of my child and wouldn't expect taxpayers or employer to do so. Christmas is coming so it is reasonable to invest into a future of a child. In addition, I wouldn't wish to send my child to learn swimming and to be assisted by another 14 year old child assistants because of potential risks.

 

On the other token as far as my knowledge goes, certain pool assistants must be over 16 so in some workplaces this would be even illegal.'

And here we go again.

The victim being targeted in multiple threads...

I see only one common denominator = Noah1

What is the qualification they offer? If it RLSS bronze you can do that at almost any pool. If it is an ASA course there will be less local choice. Perhaps your daughter should consider joining the Sea Cadets or Guides and then she may well get a chance to do the same as part of her training. DofE is another route and all of these will give her other life skills and a qualification that impresses other establishments.

Thanks for your reply ericsbrother. It is an sta level 2 qualification? I have done a little bit of my own research to see if there was anything else out there available to her as that looked a little bit advanced for her age. She is about to start her bronze duke of Edinburgh at school, something that she is really looking forward to and she recently gave up Guides as I think she had outgrown it.

Thanks