Managers unaware unpaid internships may be illegal

The vast majority of managers do not realise that unpaid internships may now be illegal, according to new research.

Social enterprise Internocracy and YouGov found that just 12 per cent of senior and middle managers are aware that hiring an intern on an unpaid basis could be against the law. The research also revealed that just 10 per cent of people aged between 18 and 35 who had heard of internships were aware of the fact.

Over half – 59 per cent - of the 2,000 people polled believed that firms exploit interns as a source of free labour, but nine per cent believed that companies should not pay interns.

Employers may find that their work experience staff are entitled to receive the national minimum wage (NMW), which all workers are entitled to once they are of school-leaving age or ordinarily work in the UK.

Becky Heath, Internocracy CEO, said, “The reality is that if an organisation takes on someone to do work for them, whether or not they are called an ‘intern’, they should be paid at least national minimum wage if they are being given responsibilities and are expected to work set hours. ‘Intern’ isn’t code for ‘free labour’ and it’s time companies stopped profiting from exploiting young people,” she added.

Certain groups will not be entitled to NMW, including genuine volunteers, apprentices under 19 or apprentices over 19 in their first apprenticeship year and workers undertaking work experience as part of their educational course.