An autistic volunteer who was told he had to stop stacking shelves at Waitrose when his mother asked if could get paid has been offered a job by rival chain Asda.
Tom Boyd, 28, had been working unpaid at a branch of the supermarket giant in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester since 2021, accompanied by a support worker.
But when his mother Frances Boyd asked if her son could be offered ‘just a few paid hours’ in July, Waitrose head office told her Mr Boyd’s work experience placement had to end.
Now, Asda has offered the volunteer two five-hour paid shifts a week.
Based on the company’s national rate, which has gone up by 15p since October, Mr Boyd will be paid £12.60 an hour.
His delighted mother told the BBC: ‘We’ve had some great news – Asda have offered him two five-hour paid shifts a week.
‘It’s overwhelming and they are flexible to say if at any time he is struggling they are fine.’
In response to Asda’s job offer, a Waitrose spokesperson today confirmed they would like to ‘welcome Tom back, in paid employment’.
Staff at the supermarket had allowed him to volunteer after his parents and support workers reached out to them with the request four years ago.
He eventually clocked up more than 600 hours ‘work’ – prompting his mother’s request for payment this summer.
A Waitrose spokesperson said today: ‘As those familiar with Waitrose will know, we care deeply about helping people into the workplace who might otherwise not be given a chance.
‘As such, we warmly welcomed Tom and his support worker into our Cheadle Hulme branch to gain experience and build his confidence.
‘We have policies in place to support volunteering, and are investigating what’s happened in Tom’s situation.
‘We’d like to welcome Tom back, in paid employment, and are seeking support from his family and the charity to do so. We hope to see him back with us very soon.’
Mr Boyd received support from Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham, who said the 28-year-old had suffered ‘truly terrible’ treatment and vowed to ‘support him to find another placement’.
The mayor added that Greater Manchester Combined Authority ‘would encourage all employers, including Waitrose, to sign up to our brand new Bee Neuroinclusive Code of Practice’.
Mr Boyd’s mother had blamed ‘head office’ for turning down her request for paid work – after bosses were alarmed by the number of unpaid shifts her son had completed and said he would not be able to work until they had resolved the situation.
She revealed he ‘absolutely loved’ his job, admitting she even lied to him that the store had been closed for cleaning, to avoid telling him he could not go back.
Before Asda’s offer, the family had been looking into whether they could get him work at another supermarket.
Speaking from her £900,000 detached home yesterday, Mrs Boyd told the Daily Mail she would not be chasing Waitrose for any backdated wages for her son, adding: ‘It’s beyond that.
‘It’s about young people volunteering. Waitrose have apologised and said they are looking into it.’
A Waitrose spokesman previously said work placements, such as Mr Boyd’s, were typically set up in partnership with a charity, in collaboration with the individual and their family.
He said they were investigating Mr Boyd’s case ‘as a priority’.
Speaking about the incident, Mrs Boyd told BBC Breakfast yesterday: ‘He started at Waitrose because he was on a college placement. It began with one hour a week and it started building up over time as it progressed and got better at it and used to doing it and everything was working.
‘Eventually, when he left college we asked if he could increase that time to two days which it did. We thought this is working out, well why don’t we ask Waitrose if there is the possibility of paid work.’
Explaining his role at the store, the mother added: ‘He was bringing stock down from the stockroom, taking it onto the shop floor, stacking the shelves, tidying the shelves, putting everything in order and making sure everything was fully stocked.
‘He absolutely loved it. He loved that sense of belonging and the structure of going to work and the independence it gave him and feeling like a working man.
‘We’ve told him he was a working man once he started to go out and finish college and he used to say: ‘I’m working like my dad and my brother’.’
Mrs Boyd explained that she and her son were at first given hope that a request for paid work might be accepted.
She said: ‘They didn’t say no which gave us a feeling it was a possibility. There was no ‘no’ immediately, so we thought ‘there’s a chance here’.
‘But at the time they said ‘come back to us, we’ve got perhaps recruitment in January and then we can look at it again’.
‘Time just went by and I think by July of this year it went to head office, because they couldn’t make a decision within the store without taking it to head office. And once head office found out about it, the placement was stopped.’
Once the placement was ended, Mrs Boyd said her son struggled to understand why he could no longer carry on working at Waitrose.
She continued: ‘We had to sort of make a story up and say that the shop was being cleaned temporarily and that he couldn’t go into work until they cleaned it and then he might be going back and we left it at that.’
