Hello all,

as you may or may not know i am not enjoying my apprenticeship at my salon and to add another blow i got my first paycheck this week,

as an apprentice i should be paid a minimum of £80 per week, i work 45 hours per week, 40 hours after my supposed 1hr a day lunch break, that works out at £2 per hour (fair enough, i knew what i was letting myself in for) but my boss had docked my wages for the time i spent at college !, he docked my day when i went to wales to scatter my grandpas ashes, no problem, but for the past 3 weeks i have had to leave one hour early on a tuesday to attend my college theory lesson and he has docked this from my wage, this doesn't seem fair, i thought the point of an apprenticeship was for me to be learning, and attending college, i missed the last 3 fridays at college too because he wouldn't let me have them off from the salon ?!, his exact words were "call in sick" does anyone else this this is unfair or is it common practise,

Thanks
Greg x

unfortunatly everywhere you go apprentices start off on that wage. some places pay £90 a week but generally that is the highest. everyone i know who has trained always got paid for their lunch because they were on pennies anyway for alot of hours but doesnt sound like you have a lenient boss. as for the hour taken off you for travelling to college from a business perspective that sounds fair but i know what you mean for the sake of £2 every 2 weeks (which im guessin thts how often you go to college) thats silly. i think for this job to start off you have to be focused if you want to do it full time in a salon and you have to be prepared to slave for pennies which is the best way to lead towards a good career...otherwise you could enrol as fulltime student at college but i would recommend you have a good placement who offers further training because college training is not enough. think about it before doing anything drastic. kind regards

as for telling you to call in sick no he is bang out of order. you need to be telling him you need to go to college for your training, otherwise you are not going to learn anything and he can think he can walk all over you. As an employer he should be wanting you to learn to become a stylist in his salon one day, if he is only treating you as a business opportunity you should find a better salon who wants to help you. hope this has helped.

It's against the law for him to dock your wages and tell you you can't have the day off from college.

For you to be working there alongside your college course you should have a contract which i think you your employ and college sign so you work the agreed days non of which interfere with your college course!

What sort of apprenticeship is this ? can you give a few more details about it ? as this sound bang out of order

well i was at college 2 days per week doing my level 2, when i got the job in the salon, i still had a month left at college, i made this clear to him, i was ment to be at colege from 1pm untill 9:30 pm on the tuesday and all day friday he would only give me 1hour off to attend my tuesday evening theory class and evening pracical, college moaned at me and said i had to attend but i called in sick as that was what i was told to do, i dont usually take instructions i dont agree with but i didnt argue with my boss as it was a new job and i didnt want to rock the boat.

I'm not an expert in this, but I think you would be better to approach the college and explain this to them rather than going to him.
Good luck I hope you get something sorted soon xx

Does the minimum wage not apply to apprenticeships? Genuine question as I've had no dealings with this before.

Apprenticeship and training pay

Sometimes there are agreed rates for certain stages of an apprenticeship. This means you may get pay increases when you have a birthday, achieve a qualification or reach a certain standard.
Minimum wage rules do not apply to all stages of an apprenticeship. 16 to 18 year old apprentices are exempt from the minimum wage.
Apprentices aged 19-25, who are in the first 12 months of their apprenticeship, are not entitled to the minimum wage until the second year of their apprenticeship.
Pay may vary depending on your “status” as an apprentice. There is a general agreement that "employed" apprentices should be paid a minimum of £80 per week for a 35-hour week. From August 09 this will rise to £95.
Further advice can be obtained from the minimum wage helpline on 0845 6000 678.
Some young people train with a business or organisation without being employed by it. If this is a programme-led apprenticeship (PLA) you might be entitled to an Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) of £10, £20 or £30 a week. This depends on your household income so not everyone qualifies.

If you are doing e2e you should recieve the maximum £30 per week EMA.
For more about EMA ring the helpline on 0800 121 8989 or visit Money to learn : Directgov - Education and learning.

If you're at a college you're part of the Students Union, you should really talk to them. I remember a motion that went through last year at the NUS conference that was part of a campaign called 'Citizen 16', who were 'working with Unison, other trade unions and third sector organisations to build a major campaign around abolishing the youth National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates and extending the NMW (National Minimum Wage) to
all apprentices and work placements.' Really interesting work, look them up 'CITIZEN 16'.

Yikes I used to get £18 P/W as an apprentice and worked minimum of 50 hrs per week ...and beaten with a stick if I got anything wrong......good old days hey

My daughter is an apprentice in a hairdressers......

No contract - against the law as we all know, the college have tried to get him to sign one....to no avail...daughter needs the apprenticeship (nearly qualified)

They make her make up the hours for bank holidays......or it comes out of her 80.00 a week...

It is shocking what goes on, but these kids need the training and the employers have the pick of many so most of them just keep quiet to keep their places...

If she kicks up a fuss she will be out the door......its a sham......even the colleges are not stepping in to protect these kids...

She only has 2 assignments left and shes quailfied... the sooner the better.....

I would love to kick up a fuss but it wouldnt do her any favours this late on & she has a chair waiting for her....

I train apprentices and time off for college is included in the 40 hours per week as is any extra time at college that is deemed necessary for their training. At no time should training allowance be docked for time out of the salon attending college.
In answer to the other questions raised here, minimum wage does not apply to registered apprentices as a training allowance is paid instead although there are lots of rules regarding this.
apprentices registered with a college do not have a contract of employment with the salon until they qualify and the salon keeps them on. They have a training conract with the training provider who in turn has a contract with the salon to ensure that;
1. the training provider is paid by the government for the training it gives
2. the salon abides by minimum standards and rules.