Commission only paid job for a registered charity -Is it legal ?

[Spi]

2 and a half years ago my friend started working on a "commission only" basis telephoning to raise funds for a friend of hers who started the charity & is the CEO of it.Although she had high hopes of making a decent living through this, unfortunately it hasn't worked out and she's made about £7,000 in commission for each of the last 2 financial years.
Her contract i've seen states that she has to work 36 hours per week & will be paid on a commission only basis (from what i've read this is illegal, or is it ok for charities to do this ?)
Since working she's eaten her way through her lifetime savings to subsidise her work & is now facing eviction as she can't pay rent & is heavily in debt.
She suffers with mental health issues & is frightened & feels intimidated to even raise the fact that her "friend" boss is maybe doing something illegal...Is she ?
I wanted to know if there's a way my friend can try to get money she's owed back -if indeed she should've been getting her wages made up to minimum wage since she started working..
Is this easy to do -or probably painful & protracted ?
Is the CEO of the charity the one who has to pay her back if she's done something illegal ?
Will she only be able to get money if she gets a solicitor ? (she can't afford one)
Any help/advice on this would be greatly appreciated !

[ULA]

My view is that the below information is applicable regardless of the fact your friend works for a charity.

Commission workers (those paid entirely or partly on the basis of sales made or deals completed) must still be paid at least the national minimum wage. They do not have to be paid the minimum wage for each hour worked, but they must be paid the minimum wage, on average, for the time worked in a pay reference period. The pay reference period is the period by reference to which they are paid and is usually the period of time for which their wage is actually calculated. Therefore, those who are paid weekly will have a pay reference period of one week and those who are paid monthly will have a pay reference period of one month. For the purposes of the minimum wage, a pay reference period cannot be longer than one calendar month.

Since your friend is required to be at work for a fixed or set number of hours per week, their work must be treated as "time work", even though their pay is calculated by reference to the number of sales made or deals completed, and they must receive, on average, at least the minimum wage for each hour worked in the pay reference period. Therefore, if her commission over a pay reference period falls below the minimum wage based on the number of hours worked, the employer must make up the sum to at least the minimum wage.

i appreciate her situation but her first action should be to discuss this with her boss before considering further action such as reporting the charity to HMRC

I presume that she has payslips which can confirm she is paid less than the minimum wage?

[Spi]

Thanx for your reply Ula

I presume that she has payslips which can confirm she is paid less than the minimum wage?

She dosn't have payslips as far as i know.She gets any commission earned paid directly into her bank account at the end of each month..These payments have the charities name on though so would be easy to see what she's been paid over a period of time if someone checked her bank statements

[ULA]

The Employment Rights Act 1996 section 8 states that “a worker has the right to be given by his employer, at or before the time at which any payment of wages or salary is made to him, a written itemised pay statement.” There then follows a list of what should be itemised in the statement.

This has been further strengthened by the Payslip Law which came into force on 6 April this year.