My daughter is on her first days training today, she is (if she sticks it) going to be a carer ...part time(she is at college).
She has been told she will not be paid for this training, which is 09.00-17.30 for the next three days.
Now, personally I would have told them to stick it as soon as they said it would be unpaid purely because I would look at it as a pee take , but is it actually legal to expect someone to work for 3 days unpaid? I have read conflicting things, some saying it isn't and others not so sure?
bit in bold - yes of course
is it legal for someone to work 3 days unpaid - yes of course
however you haven't provided much info to give a better answer. I presume you want to know if it's legal for someone to go on a training course for 3 days and not be paid for it. the answer is also yes. but a lot depends on circumstance, and that's why you will find conflicting information
who asked her to go on the training course? an employer to whom she's an employee and has a contract of employment (if so what do the terms say)? a potential employer (and is there a job offer conditional to the training being completed first, and stating it's unpaid or otherwise etc)? college/school/uni ? the jobcentre? or has she simply found the training herself and has opted to do it?
if it's an employer and an employee and this training takes place during working hours then normally unless the contract states otherwise or she has signed to agree to something to state so, normally the employee would be entitled to normal payment as if they had worked. if you turn up to your job and instead of being asked to do the thing you normally do your boss presents someone in front of you to train you on health and safety all day then you would reasonably expect to be paid for it
but it sounds like your daughter is "at college" to quote you. you haven't said if she is employed anywhere or not. the college may have arranged training somewhere with a business, to which she won't be paid to attend, much in the same way as she wouldn't pay to attend college, but similarly she won't be charged for receiving the training. if I wanted to be trained in something I would normally have to engage the services of someone to provide that training to me, and in turn they would want to be paid for it. so it sounds like whilst she isn't be paid to attend the training, she isn't having to pay either, so she is getting free training, and that training has a value, and the outcome of that training may be that she could obtain a job as a result, so the value of the training could be considerable. if it's "training" it's not necessarily "work". also employment law mostly relates to "employees" and "employers" not "workers" or "trainees". if she isn't employed by the company, or any company, she's not an employee and the employment law won't relate to her, and the national minimum wage and working time regulations won't apply to her. so yes the can be trained and doesn't need to be paid for it. if you arranged driving lessons to be trained to drive a car you would normally reasonably expect to pay for the training, and not for the business to pay you to be trained