A mole has told us that HMRC are soon to publish a set of guidelines which recognise “internships” in terms of the National Minimum Wage.
If true, these guidelines will say that internships are a “step up” from work experience; suggest a longer time period; and crucially they MUST BE PAID.
We understand this document will be relevant to all areas of work, and will give all employers an official document to be referred to follow.
However, the law as it stands is pretty clear – if you are working set hours, are relied upon to do set tasks, and are not a student – then you should be paid minimum wage for your internship.
The third sector is not counted amongst current regulations – but MPs and media organisations are. It would be interesting to see if they take note of these developments. I suspect they won’t.
Watch this space. An announcement is expected next week.
This is really interesting, we’ll be waiting to see what emerges in the next week or so!
Thanks for keeping your ears to the ground guys!
Dom
Internocracy
About time!
A step in the right direction but I’m not sure why the third sector should be able to bypass this. A wide range of organisations have charitable status and their interns deserve to be paid if they are working interns and not volunteers. Still, progress is being made!
Very interesting, even if it’s already illegal. The risk is that if it doesn’t come through, it will leave the impression that unfair internships have not been made illegal after all.
Any development?
Hello,I am currently a stduent at F.I.T. and would love to intern for you throughout fashion week. My schedule is full Mon-Thurs until 5p.m. and Fri-Sun i am free all day. If my shcedule fits i would love to assist you as needed. I am pursuing a Fashion Merchandising Management degree and am currently in my Freshman year. I look forward to hearing from you,Michael