The fundamental premise of this campaign is that work should be paid.
The demand for the minimum wage for internships does not distinguish between student and non-student or between differing socio-economic backgrounds.
Intern Aware also argues that internships should be widely advertised and competitive in order to ensure fair access to candidates from all social backgrounds.
Won’t this be the end of all internships?
This won’t mean the end of internships. It will mean that companies are now able to recruit from a bigger pool and, yes, may take fewer interns. But the knock-on effect will be to make the experience of having an internship more valuable: paying interns gives the company an incentive to provide you with a structured experience, not just tea-making and photocopying.
As a result, an internship will look much more impressive on your CV. With fewer internships at each company, there is also an increased chance of gaining a job. At the moment, interning often leads only to more interning, supposedly gaining ‘experience’ for jobs it takes them a long time to actually get.
Don’t people need CV points during a recession?
We understand how tough the employment climate is because of the recession. But the current internship system is having a corrosive effect on society.
In ten years time, there will be a clear distinction between those whose parents were wealthy enough to pay for them to intern through the recession – and those who were not. Leaving aside your personal circumstances, is this really the sort of country you want to see in a decade?
Businesses can’t afford to pay interns.
Let’s make a very clear distinction here between interning for a company and volunteering with a charity.
The National Minimum Wage legislation has always recognised that charitable volunteers do not need to be paid the minimum wage: the guidelines state that volunteers not entitled to the minimum wage ‘work for a charity, voluntary organisation, charity shop, school, hospital or similar body; and they receive only reasonable expenses, relevant training and/or subsistence (but not money for subsistence)’.
If the business in question is profit-making then they should abide by National Minimum Wage legislation. Remember, in 1998 when the Labour Government passed the legislation, many people argued it would lead to companies laying workers off: their fears proved to be groundless.
Currently companies are able to suppress the number of employees they have by getting people to work for free.
If a business can’t afford to pay all the employees it needs to do the relevant work, maybe it should look again at their business model.
Don’t people need to experience industries?
Yes – work experience is a valuable way of deciding which career to pursue. We have no problem with work experience that lasts a max of three weeks and is not paid. In this time, it is possible to observe employees and get a feel for an industry. But there’s a big difference between observing and working for free over an extended period of time. Internships are increasingly becoming a necessary precondition of employment, which many cannot afford to fulfil. Interns are often not being paid for their work; particularly where no expenses are provided, it can cost interns money to perform work.
When interns are given a specific job description and set of tasks, they are legally considered to have a contract. The law regards a phone call or conversation that requires distinct days, hours of work or tasks to be a verbal contract and therefore constituting work requiring the minimum wage.
In addition, through performing those tasks, the intern is earning money for the company. They should therefore be entitled to payment for their time in return.
Isn’t this is a bit of a long-shot?
Pressure to change the internship structure is growing. The IPSA Consultation on MPs’ expenses states at 8.10 that ‘interns are employees and relevant employment legislation will apply’. This demonstrates the increased recognition that National Minimum Wage legislation, one of Labour’s greatest achievements, should be properly implemented.
In November last year, the Reading employment tribunal reached a landmark ruling that expenses-only internships are illegal.
