[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah not a massive fan of it either but there are things that under 18's can't do like scan alcohol through the tills and just in regards to the Supermarket my kids work in, it's a small local one and they're really good for employing local teens looking for a part time job in the village, there's only the shop, a cafe, a Chinese take away, a fish and chip shop and a few Pubs there so there's very few options where they wouldn't have to travel to the next town and if they're good they always keep them on and bump their money up when they turn 18

Hmm, I suppose there are limitations for 16-18's in that sense and maybe it needs to be lower to encourage hiring at all (otherwise why wouldn't you just hire an 18 year old who can do the full role)... beyond that though I just can't see the justification for the lower wages for 18-21 year olds, and slightly lower minumum wage for 21-25 year olds. Though I don't know that many places actually pay 21-25 year olds the 50p less an hour or whatever it is, I think MOST places at least have a flat wage structure at 21+.

It's one of the very few things my old place of work did right. Obviously you had to be 18 to work there at all, but then the wage structure was the same whether you were 18 or 50 (in the same role).