Internships – know your rights

Internships – know your rights 

Internships are a great way for students and graduates to test out a career path before committing. They’re a way to gain work experience, which looks impressive to prospective employers, and will help you land a job later – especially in competitive industries such as media, healthcare and law. Many companies also use internships as a way of finding promising talent to recruit. 

However, when searching for internships, it’s important that you know your rights so you can avoid exploitative placements and have a beneficial, enjoyable experience. Here, we’ll take a look at your right to pay and annual leave as an intern, as well as whether it’s ever worth doing an unpaid internship. 

Are internships paid? 

In the UK, an intern who’s classed as a “worker” is legally entitled to receive National Minimum Wage, i.e. employers have to pay them. Some interns may qualify as “employees” in the legal sense; employees are workers who have employment contracts and have the same rights as workers but with some additional extended rights. Generally, you’re classed as a worker if: 

• You have a written or unwritten contract or arrangement to work or provide services for a reward 
• The reward is money or a benefit in kind (such as the promise of a contract or future work) 
• Your employer has to have work for you to do for the duration of your contract or work arrangement 

It’s worth noting that interns are often paid more than minimum wage depending on the sector and company. The average intern salary in the UK is between £22,000 and £24,000. 

So, are unpaid internships legal? 

In line with the information above, an unpaid internship is illegal if the intern qualifies as a worker. However, there are some exceptions where organisations don’t have to pay interns. An unpaid internship is legal if the intern role fits into one of the following three categories: 

• Voluntary workers working for a charity or similar voluntary organisation 
• Work shadowing (i.e. the intern isn’t carrying out any work themselves, only shadowing an employee) 
• Students required to do an internship (sandwich placement) as part of a further or higher education course for less than 12 months. Although it’s worth noting than many employers do pay student interns. 

If you’re unsure about the legality of an internship, check with your school or university student information or careers team. They’ll be able to review the internship conditions and check whether it’s all above board. 

Unpaid internships – a potentially problematic practice 

While unpaid internships may be legal (provided they fulfil the above criteria), they’re still problematic. Firstly, it can be considered unfair and exploitative for an employer to get free labour without paying for it. For some sectors such as the arts, media, retail and fashion, unpaid internships are particularly common and, in some cases, it’s hard to get into these industries without previous work experience. This means people interested in these areas are eager to gain experience or may feel like they don’t have a choice, and some employers are taking advantage of this.  

Secondly, unpaid internships also come under fire from criticism from a socio-economic standpoint. They stifle social mobility for young people who can’t afford to work for free (as very few people can!). This essentially keeps certain careers predominantly closed to anyone but a select few from wealthier backgrounds and can perpetuate the lack of diversity in certain careers. 

Is it ever worth doing an unpaid internship? 

Our general advice would be to always try to find a paid internship. You and your time are valuable and it’s only fair that an employer pays for your work. Plus, hopefully the more interns refuse unpaid internships, the less employers will offer them. However, if you find yourself in a position where you’re considering an unpaid internship that could really open doors for you professionally and can’t find any paid opportunities, there are a few things to consider before applying. 

First things first: is it legal? You may not just be sacrificing a wage; the working relationship and conditions may also not be up to scratch with an employer who doesn’t respect the law. Employment regulations are there to protect you. If you’re not being paid as you should, how else could an employer be exploiting you or mistreating you? Plus, your first foray into the world of work can be overwhelming and leave a lasting impact, so make sure you find the best experience for yourself as possible.  

Next, ask yourself: how much will I be gaining from this internship? The employer isn’t paying you, so you need to make sure you’re getting a fair deal in another way. Aka how much will you be getting out of it versus how much you’ll be putting in? This is where the quality of the internship is particularly important. Look for things like breadth or depth of experience in areas relevant to what you want to do, networking prospects, and opportunities to shadow experts as well as learn new skills. In addition, consider opting for shorter or part-time unpaid internships where possible, or asking the employer whether this will be possible. This way, you’ll get all the benefits of an internship (minus the pay!) while also being able to work elsewhere to earn money if you need to or study alongside your internship. 

Do interns get holiday? 

As with the question of salary, your holiday entitlement is dictated by your employment status. If you aren’t a volunteer intern, then you’re likely a worker or perhaps an employee. Basic worker rights include, in addition to entitlement to pay, protection against unlawful discrimination, the statutory minimum length of rest breaks and the statutory minimum of paid holiday. 

So, yes, interns can take leave as long as they’re classed as workers or employees under law. The national statutory minimum of paid holiday is 5.6 weeks per year. If you work 5 days a week, you’ll get 5 days x 5.6 off a year (28 days), if you work part-time e.g., 3 days a week, you’ll get 3 days x 5.6 off a year (16.8 days). If your internship is less than a year (as most are), your holiday entitlement will be calculated in proportion to how long you’ll be working as an intern. This is called your “pro rata” holiday entitlement.