Internships – Unpaid, unadvertised, unfair

The Sutton Trust have launched their latest look at internships, you can download the full report here.

For young people who cannot afford to work for free, and for those who do not have the networks with which to secure a placement informally, internships are acting as a barrier to the best careers – and to social mobility. This brief looks at the existing research on internships in the UK and introduces new and updated analysis on the current minimum cost of carrying out an unpaid internship in two major UK cities, London and Manchester and recommendations to tackle this issue

Key findings:

• Even if transport costs are provided, our new analysis shows the minimum cost of carrying out an internship in London unpaid is £1,019 per month (or £827 in Manchester). This is higher than we estimated in our last report in 2014, largely as a result of rising rents and inflation.
  • Although there has been some progress since our last report on the subject, organisations continue to offer internships which are unpaid, and offer internships without formally advertising them.
  • Current research suggests that over 40% of young people who have carried out an internship have done at least one of them unpaid.
  • The most recent government estimate is that there are 70,000 interns in the UK at any one time, although there is no newer estimate available than 2010. In 2017, 11,000 internships were found to be advertised online, but many more are likely to have been offered unadvertised.
  • New Sutton Trust analysis of the most recent HESA data suggests that roughly 10,000 graduates are carrying out an internship at six months postgraduation, with 20% of them doing so unpaid.
  • There are concerns that some employers are either unaware that their interns should be paid, or that some employers are exploiting the lack of clarity in the law to avoid paying their interns.

Next steps:

• Download the full report Sutton Trust report here
• What should you be doing as an employer? Read more about becoming a Youth Friendly Employer here