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Call to pay interns 'training wage', Financial Times

28 June 2010

Interns should be paid a minimum £2.50-an-hour "training wage", bringing them into line with apprentices, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development urges today.

The recommendation, on the day when internship schemes for many recently graduated students begin across the country, is aimed at easing a growing controversy over interns, many of them unpaid.

A report last year by Alan Milburn , former health secretary, identified internships - often granted to children or friends of existing staff members - as one way in which elites maintain their grip on prestigious professions. He urged reforms to make them more open.

The CIPD believes a £2.50-an-hour minimum, the same as the new minimum for apprentices, would promote social mobility by encouraging people from poorer backgrounds to apply without putting off employers from taking on interns.