Is a grand in 2 months good?

So I applied to this job which pays £7.28 per hour. I'm 18 and this will be my first job. I've been given 18 hours per week so I will earn £131 per week but I only get paid at the end of every month, so I'll get £524 in July and the same amount in August, adding up to £1048. I'm only working for July and August. I'm taking this job on since nowhere else has gotten back to me - the manager here is a bit strange and gave me 20 hours of unpaid training which will be completed in a week.

Is this good or bad? Also this is going towards University costs.

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

What are your outgoing costs? What are your plans for the income?

If you are having to pay rent, transport, food and living costs etc, then £524 pcm is really going to be not a lot to squeak by on.

If you're living at home with parents, have no outgoings except whatever you feel like spending on yourself, it's all a net gain so anything is better than nothing!

20 hours of unpaid training sounds unreasonable to me though...normally training is paid, even when it's relatively short. For extended periods of training I would've expected it certainly to be paid. Sounds a little fishy to me although I don't know the legal picture.

edit: the national minimum wage for 18-20 year olds is £7.49 from April of this year so they're actually illegally underpaying you at £7.28? https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/#are_you_under_23_

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 2

Chamberlain3000

OP

10

Original post by artful_lounger

What are your outgoing costs? What are your plans for the income?

If you are having to pay rent, transport, food and living costs etc, then £524 pcm is really going to be not a lot to squeak by on.

If you're living at home with parents, have no outgoings except whatever you feel like spending on yourself, it's all a net gain so anything is better than nothing!

20 hours of unpaid training sounds unreasonable to me though...normally training is paid, even when it's relatively short. For extended periods of training I would've expected it certainly to be paid. Sounds a little fishy to me although I don't know the legal picture.

edit: the national minimum wage for 18-20 year olds is £7.49 from April of this year so they're actually illegally underpaying you at £7.28? https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/#are_you_under_23_

Yeah, I just checked the link. I sent my manager a message about it (I think she's like the managing assistant and there's a manager above her, she isn't sure what she's doing). I sent a screenshot of the webpage declaring the 18-20 minimum wage changes. She can't say I'm wrong. It was my first unpaid day today, and I have four more days of 5-hour shifts until I get paid. Honestly, I don't understand why they don't pay for the training, it's ridiculous but I haven't heard back from anyone else so I'll keep the job. It's better than nothing and there isn't anything left for me to do for the summer except for raking in a bit of cash to help go towards University.

I live away from home, so I'm relying on student loans, my accommodation is pretty cheap in comparison to other places I could have stayed at, and Aldi is next door. I need the job so I can buy a laptop, so if I'm going to get a grand then I'll be fine with it going towards that. I don't need a MacBook, I need a windows supporting device, so something like Dell.

Reply 3

Chamberlain3000

OP

10

Original post by artful_lounger

What are your outgoing costs? What are your plans for the income?

If you are having to pay rent, transport, food and living costs etc, then £524 pcm is really going to be not a lot to squeak by on.

If you're living at home with parents, have no outgoings except whatever you feel like spending on yourself, it's all a net gain so anything is better than nothing!

20 hours of unpaid training sounds unreasonable to me though...normally training is paid, even when it's relatively short. For extended periods of training I would've expected it certainly to be paid. Sounds a little fishy to me although I don't know the legal picture.

edit: the national minimum wage for 18-20 year olds is £7.49 from April of this year so they're actually illegally underpaying you at £7.28? https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/#are_you_under_23_

Yeah, she replied back and it is £7.49. Not being exploited. Phew.

Reply 4

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Chamberlain3000

Yeah, I just checked the link. I sent my manager a message about it (I think she's like the managing assistant and there's a manager above her, she isn't sure what she's doing). I sent a screenshot of the webpage declaring the 18-20 minimum wage changes. She can't say I'm wrong. It was my first unpaid day today, and I have four more days of 5-hour shifts until I get paid. Honestly, I don't understand why they don't pay for the training, it's ridiculous but I haven't heard back from anyone else so I'll keep the job. It's better than nothing and there isn't anything left for me to do for the summer except for raking in a bit of cash to help go towards University.

I live away from home, so I'm relying on student loans, my accommodation is pretty cheap in comparison to other places I could have stayed at, and Aldi is next door. I need the job so I can buy a laptop, so if I'm going to get a grand then I'll be fine with it going towards that. I don't need a MacBook, I need a windows supporting device, so something like Dell.

In that case it sounds like a fine job for a summer :smile:

If you can afford your stuff otherwise and it's just to get money towards a bigger purchase I think it's as good an option as any! Plus it's some work experience and something to stick on your CV which isn't a bad thing by any means :wink: