Interns should be paid training wage

Union calls for an end to the exploitation of graduate interns have been echoed by the release of a policy paper by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development calling for an end to unpaid internships for university students.

According to their report, To pay or not to pay?, over a third of internships are currently unpaid, and it argues that a new training wage would help reflect the contribution that an intern is likely to make to an organisation. It proposes £2.50 an hour which is the current minimum rate of pay for apprentices and which would cover all interns and apprentices regardless of their occupation or industry sector.

The TUC, however, is informing graduates that in many cases they are actually entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) if not more (see Labour Research, June 2010 pages 17-18).

Entitlement to the minimum wage depends on the actual circumstances of the arrangement, not the title given to the job or role, making labels such as “work experience”, “internship”, “voluntary work” or “volunteering” irrelevant.

The TUC has set up a website — www.rightsforinterns.org.uk — to help young people know their rights in the labour market.

www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5A28F718-CC39-4B95-97BC-B0C93123BF8D/0/5258_Internships_report1.pdf