Internship ads on W4MP
Important notes which you should read carefully
Updated: 19 April 2008
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.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 specifies under what circumstances the minimum wage should be paid. Guidance has been prepared by the House of Commons Department of Finance and Administration for Members of Parliament to use in consideration of whether or not the national minimum wage might be applicable. Members may wish to clarify the status of their interns by reviewing the guidance note.
Meanwhile, we regret that we are not able to offer advice ourselves on the status of internships but we draw your attention to the following:
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The Guidance for MPs, mentioned above
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Interns' Network's 10 point guide for ethical internships which you can see at: www.internsnetwork.org.uk/ethical/employers.htm
[19 April 2008 - Interns' Network website is down - more information here] -
A Standard Note from the House of Commons Library (SN/BT/697 – Last updated 27 September 2006) “National Minimum Wage and Volunteers”. It can be seen at www.w4mp.org/pdf/snbt-00697.pdf and includes a section on Internships
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If you have any specific queries we recommend that you ring the Department of Trade and Industry's National Minimum Wage Helpline on 0845 6000 678.
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.