Hi i hope someone can help because i dont have the first clue about traineeships and the government courses etc. But my daughter and her friend are being treated so badly by their employer that i am sure that it can not be legal what this woman is doing to these young people. First of all my daughter is a fully qualified beautician and is 19 and left college last year. She came across a shop that was opening and they wanted a beautician and she applied and got the job. My daughter like a lot of young people these days was so made up she got the job she never asked the woman what she got paid and there was no mention of any trainee scheme or apprenticeship she was just told to come in on the following monday, which she did. When her boss came in she asked her if she could have a word in private. This is when she dropped the bomb shell that she wouldnt be getting paid for 6 weeks, and she would only be doing sixteen hours and the reason the woman gave for this was that she needed to train my daughter to her standard before she would allow her to have her own clients. Obviously my daughter was a bit confused that she hadnt mentioned this but because she wants to be a beautician so badly she agreed that was okay. My daughter was not on jobseekers she had a night job in a pub. When the six weeks finished the boss turn round to my daughter and said she needed further training and wasnt ready yet so she would have to do another 6 weeks of training and not get paid, but did promise to give her bits here and there when she had done well and after that period her hours would go up and she would get a proper wage. My daughter agreed thinking at least she would be getting something and in the mean time quit her bar job because she was so tired and also because she thought in a few weeks she would be on a proper wage. but in the following six weeks she received about £30.00. By this time she was now working unsupervised and already the hours had crept up to her working over 40 hours a week some weeks and didnt see the boss from one day to the next. The boss just seems to saunter in and out whenever and the girls are running the shop for her but only getting paid for 16 hours work when they are all doing nearer 40 or more. my daughter has worked there since May this year so thats 6 months and last week she finally confronted her boss about the hours she works for such little pay. she gets a hundred pounds a week for 40 hours work. She worked for 3 months with no pay at all. then she got bits here and there and then about 2 months ago went on to hundred pounds a week for 40 hours work. which is £2.50 an hour which I thought was disgusting. From that point she said she couldnt afford to pay her much more and said she would give her another £40 a week so thats £3.50 an hour and promised when it got busiier she would give her more. my daughter accepted this as it was at least something. However that was 2 weeks ago and she has only recieved the £140 for one week and last week it went back down to £100. My daughter asked her why and she said she couldnt afford it and she would have to go back down to working 16 hours and getting £100. I wouldnt mind she has never yet worked just a 16 hour week in that shop not even from the start, the first week she worked over 20 and by week 3 or 4 she was doing 40 hours a week. Its just a joke and this woman is such a hard face cow i could swing for her,. Last week she had the accountant in and asked my daughter to come over for a word and she then asked her to go on a training course which she does at home to do with customer service, and she told her it will lead to a proper qualifications. I am now thinking that this woman has mislead my daughter into giving her a full time job when in effect she is telling the tax people or whoever that she is taking on trainees and getting paid for them hence this customer service qualification all of a sudden because she cant say she is training her in beauty as she is already qualified so she has had to dream up a qualification to comply with the traineeship rules so she can get paid her two thousand ish pounds per staff member. Also that way she can get away legally with calling my daughter a trainee and only paying her the trainee minimum wage which i think is £2.68 an hour. I am so angry but dont know what to do to try and help my daughter, she loves her job and doesnt want to leave but hasnt got the confidence to stand up to her boss . any advice would be fantastic thankyou cher69cher69:-x