Internship ads on W4MP
Important notes which you should read carefully
Updated: 29 June 2010
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 Act 1998 which specifies under what circumstances the minimum wage should be paid.
Members
of Parliament:
Guidance was prepared by the
House of
Commons Department of Finance and Administration (now
the Resources Dept) 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.
[Note: we are currently - June 2010 - seeking advice on
whether this needs changing now that IPSA are dealing with
salary payment for staff.]
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.
Read more.
Another very useful resource is
the Intern Manager's Guide is from
from Internocracy.
We regret that we are not able to offer advice ourselves on the status of internships but we draw your attention to the following:
-
The Guidance for MPs, mentioned above
-
Check out the Interns Charter – the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) code of practice. Read more.
-
Look at the Intern Manager's Guide from from Internocracy. It's here.
-
Internships Network's website is at: www.internsnetwork.org.uk
-
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
-
Business Link has a very useful page here on National Minimum Wage Law.
-
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also has a useful page on NMW here.
-
For help and advice on the National Minimum Wage call the Pay and Work Rights helpline on 0800 917 2368.
UPDATE 28 June 2010: Have a
look, too, at the guides we did for new staff after the 2010
Election,
A guide to managing good internships at
www.w4mp.org/html/library/2010booklet/managers.asp
and
A guide to getting the best out of your internship at
www.w4mp.org/html/library/2010booklet/interns.asp.
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."