assistant...apprentiship help

[leeanne910]

Ok i told a girl i was givin her the job as she was interested in doing an apprentiship. Anyway. I am waiting for local college to contact me and am willing to go ahead for this. Now the appointed person is sayin she doesnt think she can afford an apprentiship as her benefits will.be took.from.her (she has 2 children lives in.a council flat with unemployed partner) but she can work for.minimum wage? Im a little unhappy as i really wanted to.help her gain a qualification as thats what she wanted and feel like my efforts are bein well i dunno.... From.what i have read it doesnt effect things. If anythin workin at.minimum wage would affect it more? I just need clarification on this if anyone can. Im not up for being messed about before they even start

[blue bear]

I'm a bit confused so am making some assumptions here.
I take it as an apprentice she would be on something like £2.70ish an hour? (son is looking at this at the moment) but she is saying she doesn't want to do apprenticeship any more but wants you to pay her minimum wage as her benefits are affected and taking apprenticeship will make her worse off?

If you only want to offer an apprenticeship then you need to start re interviewing and explain to her that was the only option.
Are you wanting to to her on to increase your numbers? If so you need to think what happens if an apprentice moves on etc would it be safer to employ a regular assistant at minimum wage with a proper context with longer notice periods etc.

[leeanne910]

Sorry was havin a stressful morn my own boys were wild.

I have one assistant who.has level 3 all.checks done etc and was taking this girl on as an apprentice. Apprentice will do min 30hrs and other assistant is part time 16hrs. I have 6 under 5 on days with my assistant. Tops. No more due to planning permission and i like how it works with my assistant days. How ever i was looking for another assistant to work part time so assisrants cover sick days and holidays of each other and can go training together etc. When interviewing we talked about an apprentiship for her as she wanted a qualification as she had nothing so i have been sorting this out.

I think she is nervous about her benefits and have tried to research it for her as i dont see it affecting as much as she feels. Have just suggested she check the benefit calculator on directgov. As i felt at interview she really wanted a qualification as she never had a chance before and thought i was being nice sorting this even though its so new to me but i appreciate her concerns with benefits she claims...i dont know...think i might carry on and if she doesnt want it as we havent got contracts signed or anything yet as i want checks cleared first. If she doesnt want it anymore i may tell national apprentiship scheme and there is prob someone out there looking for an opportunity :( but im ok number wise at the moment so in not overly concerned. Just feel lile efforts are wasted.

[Kellyann36]

So with an apprentice as an assistant providing planning permission, space and insurance allows you can increase your numbers?