Calls for a ‘Training Wage’ to replace unpaid internships

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has called for a ‘Training Wage’ of a minimum of £2.50 per hour for graduates to replace unpaid internships after research carried out by the CIPD found that nearly 40% of Internships are unpaid and are therefore only open to those graduates who could afford to work for free and who lived close to the businesses and organisations offering the opportunities.

The proposed training wage of £2.50 an hour – which is the current minimum rate of pay for apprentices – would be introduced under the plans, to cover all interns and apprentices regardless of their occupation or industry sector. Any position that is advertised as an internship would automatically trigger a legal obligation on the part of the employer to pay at least the training wage throughout the entire duration of the internship, helping to reduce complexity surrounding the issue of payment for young people and also support better enforcement arrangements.

From HR magazine ‘Tom Richmond, skills adviser at the CIPD, says: "The continued existence of a major loophole in the national minimum wage legislation has created a lot of confusion and concern around the issue of whether interns should be paid or not. We believe that the introduction of this Training Wage would reflect the contribution that interns make to their organisations, which is likely to be less than that of a fully-trained member of staff, at the same time as avoiding concerns over reductions in the number of internship opportunities that may result from all interns being paid the full minimum wage.

"Alongside the introduction of the Training Wage, a number of related issues would also need to be discussed, including which working rights interns should be entitled to. Nevertheless, the creation of the Training Wage would represent a significant step towards ensuring that internships promote social mobility, provide young people with valuable experience and help tackle exploitation in the workplace. What’s more, organisations would still be able to recruit young talent at a reasonable rate during this difficult economic period and beyond."

At a time when graduates are being hit hard by the sluggish economy and taking jobs they are overqualified for and limiting the opportunities for others who are unemployed, giving graduates experience in their field of expertise and receiving at least some remuneration for doing so seems like a good idea to me.Any source