Mon, 10 Jan 2011
Monday 28 June 2010
The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) has called for
the introduction of an intern’s wage, of around £2.50 an hour.
The ‘training wage’ could be paid to people while they learn at work in
roles that are currently often unpaid. This issue has caused controversy in
recent years as more and more firms take on unpaid staff who are keen to
undertake a role that offers workplace learning, but can also afford to
work for free.
The call from the CIPD comes after Alan Milburn, the former health
secretary, called for reform of the internship rules to prevent them
remaining the domain of the elite.
The rate of £2.50 per hour would bring interns more in line with
apprentices in terms of their earnings and would help boost social mobility
while not putting off employers from wanting to take young interns on. The
rate is still far below the national minimum wage of £5.93 per hour for
adults and of £4.92 per hour for 18-20 year olds.
The current law says that interns should be paid if they work set hours and
have a set list of jobs to do. However, they are often classed as
volunteers, which means they are exempt from minimum wage laws.
CIPD skills advisor, Tom Richmond, explained, “We believe that the
introduction of this training wage would reflect the contribution that
interns make to their organisations.”
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