Questions about students working in England.

[John McGillivray]

Hi all,

I have some questions for our friends in England.

My daughter has been accepted as an exchange student at the University of Birmingham for the upcoming school year, and now we are trying to work out her budget. With a student visa she will be able to work part time, up to a maximum of 15 hours per week.

The question is how easy is it to find part time work in the Birmingham area? Can she count on finding a job? She has a lot of experience working in stores and coffee shops, etc. The second question is how much can she expect to be paid?

Thank you for any help or suggestions you can give.

John

Hi John, I had a moment so just did a little Googling for you ... there is at "Student's Job" section I believe. I hope this helps ... all the best to your daughter!...

http://www.englandguide.co.uk/Job_Se...mingham_uk.asp

[dougiebarder]

Regarding what your daughter can earn, we apparently now have a minumum wage.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/nmw/
So she might be able to send you some money home

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

My daughter is 17, 18 in January, and a student at Salisbury College studying catering. She worked at McDonald's 2003-4 and earned £5.00 per hour. She now works for Pizza Hut and is on £4.50 per hour. She is going for an interview tomorrow with Subway..they pay around £5.00 per hour.

The differences? Hours! Students under 18 cannot work in theory beyond 10 pm/22.00. If your daughter is only allowed 15 hours per week then she could do two sessions say over a weekend or perhaps five evenings of 3 hours. There are now loads of jobs for students in the food industry...McDs, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, TGI Friday's, plus some names you will not know of: Spud-U-Like, which sells jacket potatoes, Wimpy [hamburgers], to name two. Expect free drinks in unlimited quantities in all but some McDonald's, plus free meals in all and in Pizza Hut/TGI Friday's..oh! forgot Costa Coffee, Starbuck's...after three months you get a Whitbread discount card which gives big savings on Whitbread Group restaurants plus hotels and Costas.

I am only too willing to assist from here just north of Southampton..my daughter know the ropes!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

My home number is available on PM!

[David_Hayward (RIP)]

As to Income Tax, there is no tax payable until £4610 has been earned although national National Insurance has to come off as well. Daughter will have to register with the Inland Revenue.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

I've got one (Jenn) just finishing Junior college in December,going into law at McGill,working at a book/DVD store called Archambaults plus our baby(Chris) is now working at OLD NAVY.Both girls,being students,are exempt from income tax here in Canada,as long as they can prove they're students.Strange world!!

[John McGillivray]

Thank you for your replies. So it appears that my daughter should have little trouble in finding a part time job over in England.

It is not sure yet if she will be going. Welcoming week starts at the University Birmingham on the 13th of Sept. with classes starting on the 27th. She has not yet received the information about her registration, or an answer to her application for housing. Also she has applied for a student loan to help pay for everything, but there was news last week that there is a computer problem at the Ministry of Education in Quebec, so all of the student loans will be late. If she dose not hear soon about her loan application, she will have to cancel her plans to study in the UK and register at McGill instead.

My daughter has been working at various jobs since she was 15. She just turned 20 last month. Currently she has two jobs, one at a coffee shop in Old Montreal, and the other at Indigo Books in downtown Montreal. Two summers ago she was working as an extra on the film “Timeline”. She was one of the student archaeologist near the beginning of the movie. When they are giving the lecture to the students with the model castle and toy knights, she is in the group shot, the one with the green hat and red vest.

Thanks for the help. I have past on the information to my daughter.

John

[John McGillivray]

Well it is official. My Daughter will be starting her classes at McGill tomorrow. She still has not received an answer from the MEQ about her student loan application. Fortunately, she will not need the student loan while she is studying at McGill; however she is disappointed that she can not go to England.

Dave, thank you for your generous offer of help for my daughter.

John