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Who is eligible for the National Minimum Wage
[ch 4: pages 83-84]All workers, including agency, homeworkers and commission workers, are entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW). So is anyone else who works for another person, except in the excluded sectors listed on page 84.
Since 1 October 2013 agricultural workers are paid the NMW (see page 85).
Some interns qualify for the NMW. Whether an intern qualifies for the NMW depends on whether they are a “worker”. The sort of factors that will determine whether an intern is a “worker” are set out on page 43 of Chapter 2:
In November 2009, a tribunal decided that Nicola Vetta, who had agreed to work as an intern for a London production company, London Dreams Motion Pictures Limited for expenses only, was entitled to the National Minimum Wage. She was backed by broadcast, entertainment and cinema trade union BECTU and recovered almost £2,000 in unpaid wages.
Vetta v London Dreams Motion Pictures Limited 2009, unreported
In 2011, unpaid intern Keri Hudson, supported by the National Union of Journalists, won a claim for the National Minimum Wage against TPG Web Publishing Limited. The tribunal looked at the work she was required to carry out and decided she was a worker, even though she had no written contract of employment.
Hudson v TPG Web Publishing Limited 2011, unreported
The NUJ supports members who want to claim the NMW after interning without pay. Details of its campaign, Cashback for interns, are available from the NUJ website https://www.nuj.org.uk/campaigns/cashback-for-interns.
The TUC has an advice and campaigning website at: www.rightsforinterns.org.uk
Proposed changes to the law to end unpaid internships
• An influential report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, The State of the Nation 2014 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-the-nation-2014-report), recommends a total ban on unpaid internships that last more than four weeks, through legislation if necessary, by 2020. The call is backed by the London Assembly and by the Labour Party.
• Former Labour MP Hazel Blears won cross-party support for her proposal to change the law in 2015 to ban the advertising of unpaid internships.