16 years, paid in advance to avoid rise in minimum wage?

[EddieMurphy]

My 16 year old son has a Saturday job and earns £5.28/hour. He was granted a few days annual leave during the summer when we are away. The national minimum rate increased to £6.40/hour on 1st April. In my son's last salary at the end of March (he gets paid on the last Friday of each month), he received his usual months pay (for 4 Saturdays) plus pay (at £5.28/hour) for 3 holiday Saturdays in July, which I am surprised about, since his holiday is not for another 4 months. My question is, is this legal? The family-run business, by paying my son for his July holidays in March is 'diddling' him out of approx £25 - not much to the firm but a significant amount for him. Can the business legitimately pay my son 4 months in advance for annual leave at the lower (March) rate of pay, rather than paying him for his annual leave with the rest of his salary at the end of July (at the increased rate of £6.40/hr)? Any advice would be appreciated.

[JP Legal]

Hello,

It sounds like this will depend upon his contract. It is unclear why they would pay him three months in advance for no reason, especially because holiday pay would normally be paid for the month in which it was taken.

It wouldn't surprise me if they said they will offer a new employment contract to reflect the higher rate of pay, and this is why he was paid in advance.

[EddieMurphy]

It wouldn't surprise me if they said they will offer a new employment contract to reflect the higher rate of pay, and this is why he was paid in advance. [/QUOTE]

Thank you for replying - can you elaborate on what you mean about his (above)? I don't understand what you mean.

[JP Legal]

It wouldn't surprise me if they said they will offer a new employment contract to reflect the higher rate of pay, and this is why he was paid in advance.

Thank you for replying - can you elaborate on what you mean about his (above)? I don't understand what you mean.[/QUOTE]

I imagine they will say that the contractual rate of pay is £5.28 an hour. As the rate will now increase to £6.40 an hour, I suspect that they will offer a new contract at that rate. As your son was entitled to the holiday under the "old" contract, this would be paid under the old rate of pay.

However, if they do not offer a new contract with the new rate of pay, then it would be a question of the terms of the contract to see if something in there allows for pre-payment of the holiday entitlement.

[ULA]

It would be very unusual for a business to issue a new contract just because the statutory rate of pay has been increased.

Holiday pay should be paid at the rate applicable at the time the holiday is taken, not when booked. I would suggest an email back to the business owners just querying whether the rate paid for his holiday was an error as it did not take account of the increase to the minimum wage which is applicable at the time his holiday is booked for. Then see what they say.

[EddieMurphy]

Thank you ULA