Internship ads on W4MP
Important notes which you should read carefully
Updated: 17 May 2012
Thanks for using W4MP to advertise your current vacancy for an Internship.
We acknowledge that there are many people able or prepared to work in the political field unpaid or for expenses only, as a means of getting a foot in the door or to gain useful experience. However, you need to be aware of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act 1998 which specifies under what circumstances the minimum wage should be paid.
Members of Parliament
IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) are responsible for staffing expenditure and employment of Members’ staff, including interns. It is important that you read their guidance notes and check out the forms you should use. Their website is at: www.parliamentarystandards.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx. You might also find it helpful to put ‘intern’ into the search facility on the IPSA website; there are a number of other useful references.
Have a look, too, at the guides we did for new staff after the 2010 Election:
· A guide to managing good internships, and
· A guide to getting the best out of your internship.
Be warned that this area of employment is changing all the time and some our advice may get out of date. Best to rely on the official websites.
All advertisers
If you decide to submit an advert for a paid or an unpaid internship, then the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has developed a Charter which offers a code of practice on good management practice in order to make the internship as successful as possible. You can see it here. Have a look, too, at their ‘Internships that work - a guide for employers’.
We regret that we are not able to offer advice ourselves on the status of internships but we draw your attention to the following other sources of help and guidance:
· Department for Business Innovation and Skills has a page on NMW.
· Directgov has advice on NMW specifically for employees.
· Business Link has a very useful page here on National Minimum Wage Law.
· For help and advice on NMW call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368
· A Standard Note from the House of Commons Library (SNBT00697 – Last updated 17 May 2012) “Minimum Wage: volunteers”. It can be seen at www.w4mp.org/pdf/SNBT00697.pdf and includes a section on Internships.
We are keen to maintain a balance on our Jobs page and hope you will also use us when you have paid jobs on offer. The feedback we get is that such ads attract large numbers of well qualified applicants.
"The opportunities that w4mp provide are an invaluable service to anyone that wants to work in policy, politics, public affairs, think tanks, Whitehall or Westminster. Keep up the good work."