Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said the Government was committed to ensure the law was upheld in future
The Government has launched a crackdown on unpaid internships, firing off more than 550 warning letters to companies and setting up new enforcement teams.
Anyone who is a worker under the law – which can mean they so vital work or are required to turn up every day – is entitled to the minimum wage but no firm has been prosecuted for breaking the law so far.
HM Revenue and Customs is expected to target industries such as the media, the arts and law where the use of internships is widespread.
The Sutton Trust told the Guardian, which revealed the crackdown today, that around 70,000 internships are offered each year in the UK.
Around 10,000 university graduates are thought to go straight from courses on to an internship with around 2,000 unpaid.
Ministers had also been urged to crack down on unpaid internships by the Taylor Review into modern working practices.
Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said the Government was committed to ensure the law was upheld in future.
He said: ‘Employing unpaid interns as workers to avoid paying the national minimum wage is against the law and exploitative.
‘No one should feel like they have to work for free to get the skills and experience they need to get ahead.
‘That’s why over the last three months, government enforcement teams have been targeting employers advertising for unpaid interns, reminding them of the law and the consequences of breaking it.’
Around 10,000 university graduates are thought to go straight from courses on to an internship with around 2,000 unpaid
Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, said: ‘Unpaid internships remain a serious barrier to social mobility so any move to crack down on employers who continue to take them on should be welcomed.
‘But little is likely to change until legislation around internships is made clearer.’
He added: ‘It’s clear that the current law is not working – at the end of 2017 there were no prosecutions in relation to interns and pay, yet tens of thousands of young people continue to work for free.
‘We want to see tighter legislation so that all internships are paid at least the national minimum wage, fairly advertised and awarded on merit.’
Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, said: ‘Unpaid internships remain a serious barrier to social mobility’
Minimum wage laws apply to anyone who can be classified as a ‘worker’ under a broad definition that can include simply being required to turn up every day.
Labelling a position ‘intern’ is not enough to escape the rules on the minimum wage.
Tanya de Grunwald of Graduate Fog, a campaigner for fair internships, told the Guardian: ‘It is time for HMRC to admit that the reporting system for unpaid internships is not fit for purpose.
‘For starters, it relies almost entirely on interns coming forward to complain about their former employers – something few are brave enough to do, for obvious reasons.’