By Ike Idikakalu, First-Year, Politics & International Relations
Internships are a key route of employment for graduates, with 51 per cent of students undertaking at least one during their studies, 27 per cent completing multiple, and nearly a third stating they would not have secured their current job without one, according to polls conducted by Sutton Trust. For many, internships can define the trajectory of a career, however, the prevalence of underpaid and unpaid positions raises concerns about their fairness and accessibility.
In the United Kingdom, unpaid or underpaid internships are illegal under general employment law. The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 primarily prohibits unpaid internships as interns are considered workers whose labour must be compensated for. Considering this, it is surprising to discover that 61 per cent of internships undertaken within the last year were underpaid or completely unpaid in the UK, according to the Sutton Trust. Of these, 21 per cent had no pay at all.
These internships are tantamount to unpaid labour, as interns are expected to carry out tasks usually required by a full-time employee, and go unpaid for their labour regardless due to their internship status. A third-year student who spoke to Epigram, spoke of his unpaid summer vacation scheme at a law firm he didn’t wish to disclose, explaining how he had been ‘expected to review and complete documents,’ to ‘research case law,’ and statutes to assist attorneys in their cases, and spend ‘long hours,’ filing and organising paperwork and emails, while sleeping on the sofa of a friend of his who lived in London, as he could not afford to rent a room or hotel for the three months of the scheme.
Unpaid internships also work to perpetuate income inequalities, as only students who can afford to work for free can take these roles. Those from more disadvantaged backgrounds are often dependent on income from work to afford rent and food at university, and thus can not devote a month or more to an unpaid internship. Jamie, a second-year Civil Engineering student, acknowledged how despite earning no salary, he would still go for an unpaid internship. He explained how he knows it would be ‘a struggle’ to commit to, and that he would ‘have to rely on the kindness of [his] friends,’ who live in the area where the internship is located, as internships are essential for a career in his field.
Others considering career paths in law, politics, journalism, and fashion may not be as fortunate, where unpaid internships are especially prevalent and so are put at strong disadvantages. This leads to situations where industries that feature heavily in unpaid internships are able to remain dominated by wealthy elites whose social capital and affluence allow them to find unadvertised positions and afford them if they are unpaid.
Investment banking is one of these industries where well-connected, privileged candidates see success in the highly competitive internship scene. A report published by the Social Mobility Commission highlighted how people from fee-paying schools made up 34 per cent of new investment banking entrants compared to only 7 per cent of the nation’s pupils attending fee-paying schoolsthat . This highlights the disproportionate advantage that privately educated individuals have in securing investment banking internships, underscoring growing concerns about social mobility and the barriers faced by less privileged candidates.
While there is legislation aimed at combating unpaid internships, the phrasing within the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 allows for many loopholes. For interns to be required a salary, they must be considered workers, which means if interns are designated as volunteers in specific non-profit organisations or statutory bodies, they are not entitled to pay. The Red Cross is one such organisation, using this to instead offer ‘volunteer placements,’ where these volunteers engage in developing ‘projects, working on a marketing campaign, or conducting research.’ This would be considered paid work ordinarily, but they escape this obligation through their charity status.
Cancer Research UK announced in June 2018 that all their interns would receive pay, with then-CEO Sir Harpal Kumar saying: ‘It is not right that those who can’t afford to intern unpaid should be excluded from gaining essential experience in an organisation like Cancer Research UK.’ Cancer Research UK, in paying their interns, demonstrates how it is not a necessity that drives charities not to pay their interns, but a deliberate choice made by the organisation.
'companies are slowly transitioning from unpaid internships as they become increasingly unpopular'
In addition, corporations often claim interns are only there to shadow current employees, a practice seen more commonly in law and journalism. Kingsley Napley, a notable law firm, offers unpaid work experience for four weeks in either July or September, and they claim shadowing as a key part of the experience. What attendees such as Mark, a Third-Year Law student recalled, was much more time spent ‘writing legal documents and researching case-law,’ essentially being used for free labour.
Poor enforcement of paid internships further enables this. Despite efforts to make intern rights more accessible for interns to learn, many interns are unaware of their legal rights and do not know that they are entitled to pay for their work, especially if they are being offered ‘experience,’ or an ‘opportunity,’ instead of a defined internship.
Unpaid internships perpetuate inequalities amongst students
Students should be paid for for summer internships
However, there are practical alternatives to unpaid internships. Bristol University’s SME Internships scheme works to provide students and recent alumni with paid work experiences in small and medium-sized businesses in a wide range of fields, something Via, a third-year Psychology & Innovation student praised as an ‘effective programme’ to deal with this internship crisis.
Although it may look bleak, companies are slowly transitioning from unpaid internships as they become increasingly unpopular. Organisations such as the BBC have introduced more paid experiences in recent years and are distancing themselves from unpaid internships, with none directly available from their websites. Thus, while there are still disturbing trends in the internship market, fuelled by a lack of government enforcement, the situation does seem to be improving. Labour’s plan to ‘make work pay,’ aims to completely ban internships, as well as both employers and graduates are working to make changes to the status quo, pushing the right for all interns to be paid.
Featured image: Epigram / Ilona Hoffmann
Would you accept an unpaid internship?
