Arts Group

The full report is here…this is what it has to say on “Interns and Internships”:

4.76 Evidence from stakeholders continues to indicate that labels such as

‘volunteer’, ‘intern’ or ‘work experience’ were sometimes applied to

activities that are clearly work and for which at least the minimum wage should be paid.

In its evidence, Equity said that there was an ongoing

problem of unpaid work, particularly with walk-on roles that offer no pay.

Interns Anonymous claimed that interns were being used by employers

to cut the cost of basic administration and entry level jobs. In his

evidence, Mark Watson submitted 140 adverts for unpaid interns and

work experience that appeared to break minimum wage rules. In its oral

evidence, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said that many people

who were undertaking work experience were actually doing jobs that

employers relied on, particularly in television and consumer magazines.

It said that there was an over-supply of people desperate to work in the

media industry and employers have built unpaid work placements into

their business model. In its oral evidence BECTU said that some well

established companies used the terms ‘volunteer’, ‘intern’, ‘trainee’ or

‘work experience’ in the entertainment industry to encourage people to

undertake unpaid roles which included basic office work, digitising

material and writing up transcripts.

4.77 It is becoming increasingly commonplace in certain sectors, particularly

the media, entertainment industry and in politics, for employers to

demand a period of unpaid work experience as a means of getting into

the industry. The Government’s Fair Access to the Professions report

highlighted the issue of unpaid internships and how they serve to limit

career choices to those who can afford to work unpaid and those who

live near London. We received evidence from several individuals and

organisations that confirmed this finding. Interns Anonymous claimed

that it was difficult to gain employment with MPs or political parties

without intern experience in parliament. In its oral evidence the NUJ said

that it was hard to get a job in journalism without having previous work

experience but despite people undertaking internships, there was often

no prospect of a permanent job for interns. It estimated that only 30 per

cent of unpaid journalist positions resulted in permanent jobs. In his

evidence Mark Watson said that a period of unpaid work was now

regarded as an unofficial price of entry into many industries, resulting in

large numbers of young people failing to be paid the minimum wage

where it was due. The TUC said it did not believe that employers should

be able to demand a toll of unpaid work before awarding jobs as this

puts those people without parental financial support at a disadvantage.

4.78 We recognise the benefit to young people undertaking work experience

and do not want to stop individuals undertaking genuine work experience placements or discourage employers from offering good quality opportunities. Our view has always been that unpaid work experience is an area where wider dissemination of guidance and more

effective enforcement is needed, rather than any change to the rules

themselves. However, we are concerned about the increasing number

of organisations that are relying on interns, often for several months, to

perform work for no pay. The evidence we received on unpaid work

experience indicates that there is systematic abuse of interns, with a

growing number of people undertaking ‘work’ but excluded from the

minimum wage.

4.79 We have expressed our concerns about unpaid internships to BIS

throughout the year and it has responded positively. In its evidence to

us, BIS said that it recognised the concern that was expressed in the

media about the inappropriate use of internships. It said that it would

consider whether there was anything further it could do to make its

guidance on work experience clearer for employers and interns and

increase awareness of the guidance. We further encourage BIS as part

of this work to engage directly with the sectors in which lengthy unpaid

internships have become the norm. We invite BIS to present its

proposed strategy to us by the summer.

4.80 We have also raised our concerns about unpaid internships and effective

enforcement with HMRC. HMRC responded that in none of the

complaint cases it had received in 2009 concerning interns was there

sufficient evidence to suggest that the individuals were ‘workers’. It

reported that it cannot get reliable figures on the number of interns who

complain because it does not record whether a worker regards

themselves as an intern when they ring the helpline. Stakeholders

confirmed that there was a reluctance on the part of some people

undertaking work experience, who believed they were a ‘worker’, to

report complaints to HMRC.

4.81 We understand that in some cases it is not clear or easy to define

whether a person is a ‘worker’ or on a period of unpaid work experience.

However, while it is not illegal to advertise jobs which do not pay at least

the minimum wage, we believe that HMRC should adopt a more proactive

approach to investigating cases and sectors where the term

‘intern’, ‘volunteer’ or ‘work experience’ is being applied, particularly

when work is clearly being advertised. HMRC has indicated that it may

be implementing a new enforcement approach in relation to interns.

We judge this is likely to be appropriate and have asked HMRC to keep

us aware of any developments. We will monitor these carefully.

________________________________________

Here’s what it says on actors and the creative sector in particular…

4.47 Equity highlighted the problem of work being offered for no pay, giving aspiring performers an opportunity to work in the industry. Our Secretariat also met two actors who raised the issue of the complex nature of the law in relation to the entertainment industry and of roles in TV and film being advertised as unpaid when they were clearly work. They wanted it to be made illegal to advertise work for no pay. The actors, along with Equity, had passed details of adverts offering work for no pay to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and felt that some sort of sector specific guidance for employers and agencies in the entertainment industry would be beneficial.

4.48 During a visit to London we met a group of actors who told us of the problems those in the entertainment sector faced. These included: agencies taking their fees from a day’s pay, leaving the worker with less than the minimum wage, and offering no subsequent work to the actor; work being advertised for no pay (but sometimes with expenses); and the complex nature of the regulations in this sector. They told us that those in the industry were reluctant to report abuse for fear that they would subsequently find it difficult to obtain work.

4.49 In November 2009, an Employment Tribunal ruled that workers engaged on an expenses-only basis were entitled to payment at least in line with the National Minimum Wage. The case was brought by a department assistant against a film company and was supported by the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU).

4.50 We have again heard this year about a number of problems faced by those working in the entertainment industry. We understand that the issues are not always as straightforward as they may appear and that two enforcement bodies, HMRC and the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate, have an involvement in this sector. While more may need to be done in relation to enforcement of existing regulations, we believe the production and publication of guidance specifically for the entertainment industry would go some way to highlighting the rights and obligations of employers, agencies and workers in the sector.

We therefore recommend that the Government produces, in conjunction with interested parties, sector specific guidance on the National Minimum Wage for the entertainment sector. We will monitor the situation with regard to this group of workers carefully and, following publication of the sector specific guidance, review the effect of its publication.

More information on the Low Pay Commission is available on their website at www.lowpay.gov.uk

The Donal MacIntyre show on graduate schemes last week highlighted the following problem: that graduates looking for work experience get caught up in unpaid placements that can last over three months. The discussion was  geared towards the Graduate Talent Pool, a government scheme set up in 2009 to help graduates find work experience in their relevant fields. The project serves as a kick start for recent graduates facing unemployment because of the recession. However, it emerges that a large portion of the internships advertised on the GTP are unpaid and have an extensive period of over 6 months.

Words by Lemma Shehadi

Graduates fresh out of uni and looking for employment enter a vicious cycle: for though they have the qualifications, they do not have the experience required. Without this, they are unable to get a job, and are furthermore barred from gaining experience. Internships, paid or unpaid, help to resolve this problem.

There is a flexibility as to what qualifies as an internship, which leads some people to see it as “volunteered” work and others as exploitation of labour. The problem of definition begins with the distinct lack of grants available for interns, which make the opportunity exclusive to those who can afford to work without pay. Unpaid interships cover expenses only, and the Job Seeker’s Allowance is only legible to those who have been claiming it 6 months prior to their internship. This likens internships to indefinite unemployment.

In contrast, interns in Wales can claim a minimum of £240 for 10 weeks. What the Go Wales Work Placement does, in limiting the allowance  to 10 weeks, is also restrict the length of internships to that time. This makes the shorter placements more appealing and  reduces the risk of exploitation.

Consider the classic nightmare intern scenario. This is the one where the intern, hoping she will be offered employment by the company, or unable to find a placement elsewhere, works unpaid for over 6 months, during which she is asked to make coffee or squeeze oranges. What is clear in such cases is the following: a six month placement is no longer an internship, and neither do running jobs count as work experience for qualified graduates.

The fear is that in such cases, internships are breaking the minimum wage law, whereby anyone over the age of 22, working full hours should be paid a minimum of £5.80 an hour. A philosophy student argued that a worker’s relation with a company are purely financial, and his work contributes to an economic system of gain. To not receive monetary rewards in return is exploitation. Another student however points to a loop hole whereby because interns volunteer to work, they can do so without pay.

However interns have reported very positive unpaid experiences, many of which would no longer be available should pay become a requisite. Small businesses, online magazines, underground record labels cannot afford to pay their interns, but can provide them with great experience and the possibility of a job. A consultant at Chatham House in Picadilly told me about an intern for whom a solid position was actually created in order to make her an employee. When she left that job, the position was offered to another intern. Chatham House’s internships pay expenses and are restricted to three months.

It is not the pay, but the length of an internship that should be monitored, as well as the company’s work ethic. It is clear that this ethic will not change even if paid internships were enforced. This may, in the end, justify exploitation of employees, by becoming a disguise for what is really an underpaid job. To restrict the length is to reduce the time given for exploitation to become possible. This works on a number of levels, namely that it highlights the “temporariness” of an internship to both the intern and the employer. The former is less likely to feel trapped in an unpaid job with no financial or intellectual benefits.

See the article on jotta

SourceThatJob.com’s recent decision to remove unpaid positions in order to protect its audience from companies exploiting interns has attracted the strong support of many journalists and people working in the industry.

www.dwpubsporadic.com/2010/01/sourcethatjob-takes-a-stand-over-exploitation.html

The recruitment site for media professionals, which is a sister site of Daryl Willcox Publishing, now no longer accepts advertising from companies looking to recruit people for unpaid internships because it has become difficult to distinguish genuine work experience opportunities from free labour.

In the period since the economic downturn, SourceThatJob.com found there had been a significant increase in the number of internships being offered – yet at the same time the number of genuine media jobs was diminishing.

Unpaid internships are a widely acknowledged part of the media industry and are considered to provide the experience and ‘foot-in-the-door’ necessary to get on the career ladder. However some companies have used this to their advantage, taking on interns in unpaid positions which are usually three to six months long but can be on-going.

“There is a need for young, inexperienced journalists to gain experience, but there is also a risk that employers may exploit their interns for their own gain,” said Daryl Willcox, founder of SourceThatJob.com. “It’s a two way street really, but I think there is a real risk that one side of that street could be wider than the other. Employers that have work experience opportunities with the prospect of a real job at the end often contact colleges and universities directly. We’ve attracted many positive comments supporting our stand – obviously people have differing views, but it’s reignited an important issue.”

A recent survey from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), of which Daryl Willcox is a member, found that of those who did post-qualification work experience one out of five undertook a placement for three months or more, with some working for over six months unpaid. Further results showed that more than 80% of those on a placement had their work published or broadcast during their work experience. However, 82% of these students did not receive any payment for their work.

In November last year The Employment Tribunals – judicial bodies which determine disputes over employment rights – ruled that workers engaged on an expenses-only basis are entitled to payment at least in line with the national minimum wage, in addition to payment for the holiday they accrue.

Daryl Willcox continued: “Despite this issue receiving a lot of attention, rising unemployment and increased competition for places in the media means it is unlikely that unpaid internships will disappear any time soon. However, a recent Government ‘kitemark’ initiative to highlight quality internships may go some way in helping to identify genuine opportunities.”

More information on the Government’s kitemark initiative can be found here: http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/unleashingaspiration/

Daryl’s internship exploitation podcast can be heard here: http://www.dwpubsporadic.com/2010/03/sourcethatjob-strikes-a-chord-over-media-internship-exploitation.html

The Arts Group is calling for legislation governing the practice of work experience, internships and placements. In its “Emerging Workers” document the Arts Group puts forward the case that Government action is needed in order to protect students and graduates in the arts and creative industries.

Many arts organisations and businesses are reliant upon unpaid workers, both on work experience and on longer term placements. Whilst the Arts Group recognises that some of these organisations are run on low budgets, it is not in the interest of diversity, equality or creativity for internships to remain as the preserve of the well off.

Kit Friend, Chair of the Arts Group commented “Access to the creative professions should be based on ability, not means. As the labour market is near saturated with those financially able to take up unpaid placements, equal access to the creative professions will not be realised unless internships are regulated by government.”

The Arts Group recognises that the creative sector is made up of a large number of small and medium enterprises, and calls for funding and bursaries to be made available to employers so that they are able to continue to offer internships that are genuine training and development opportunities.

>> A pdf of the report can be downloaded by clicking here

Our friends at BECTU have fantastic guidelines up on their site, spelling out exactly what makes a good work experience placement, and what employers should do to avoid violating National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation.

It’s really good to have this stuff spelled out. Recently dealing with a student who’d been denied expenses, it turned out she was probably liable to retrospectively claim NMW too. If you are aware of anyone in a similar situation make sure to give the HMRC helpline a call for advice on minimum wage claims on 0800 917 2368, and for advice on expenses contact contact ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) for advice on 0845 747 4747.

In the absence of any increased legislation on the horizon, it’s vital none of us are hesitant in making use of what’s already there. With enough people claiming back the money they’re owed it will make company’s think twice about exploiting unpaid workers under the guise of internships/work experience.

Take a look at BECTU’s guidelines here

Image by Ildar Sagdejev (Specious)

jotta is an online and offline community of practising artists and designers borne from the University of the Arts London.

We are currently looking for talented journalism and/or arts graduates, or people with a strong interest in journalism and the creative industries, who are enthusiastic and would like to gain experience in online publishing.

We are also looking for journalism students with a strong interest in politics, and government policy within the creative industries. This writer would work with both jotta and Arts Group.

Placements within the jotta editorial team offer the opportunity to contribute to the online magazine with an audience of 10,000 unique hits/week.
This will allow you to:

- GAIN EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE, Researching, writing articles on a weekly basis, creating a calendar of events, liasing with jotta community to find suitable subjects, liasing with external arts community and pr agencies.

- CONTRIBUTE TO AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES using search engine optimisation
- DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF DESIGN AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT Image sourcing and editing, content management systems

If successful you will work closely with the jotta.com editor to devise a programme of practical work experience to facilitate your personal professional development. This will be monitored for a period of no more than 160 hours.

All jotta placements take place for no more than 12 hours a week, in our office on Newburgh St W1F7RP.

There is the option to work remotely if travel expenses are an issue.

If you are interested in gaining experience in the team detailed above please email millie@jotta.com with a statement of interest, and a recent C.V.

David Lammy MP delivered a speech at the RSA this week on the importance of a liberal arts education (transcript and podcast here).

It’s great to have the arts discussed properly by ministers, but for the many of us who already know how important they are, discussing how much we contribute and how wonderful culture is doesn’t really deal with the issues facing individuals and organizations on the inside.

It’s true that those parents who don’t see the “usefulness” in their child going on to study the arts need to be educated about the broad range of benefits of a career in the sector, at the moment at least, they do have a point. Whilst a career in the arts carries with it a significantly lower earning potential for the average practitioner, we’re never going to be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our peers in medicine, engineering, business etc.

In recent discussion with professionals across a range of professions, now all well moneyed, I’ve found it fascinating how many are now returning to projects for the public good, and indeed the Arts. I’ve lost count of the number of businessmen and women, lawyers and doctors, who I’ve heard discussing that what they really care about is their photography, poetry etc. Never one to dissuade or be dissapointed by anyone engaging in creative activities, I love to hear these people connect their experiences with what’s “really important to life when you get down to it”. However, it must be said these seems to contribute very little to moving away from the feeling that engagement in the arts is largely a pastime for the wealthy.

The value placed on the learning and labour of those who choose to make the creativity their livelihood, by contrast, seems to constantly be questioned. A familiar scenario to most creative graduates will be the abundance of work experience adverts and “opportunities” asking for those with skills in everything from sewing to web design to give their time in exchance for the “experience” of working in an exciting company. These experiences may of course be wonderful, and indeed the companies exciting, but why should we not be paid a decent rate for our contribution? A company wanting a web design student to create or augment their online presence for instance, is not primarily doing so because they will benefit from the vibrant and fulfilling experience of having a creative in their midst, they are doing so to create profit. Even in the public sector, museums and galleries, we seem to run our institutions and organizations on a raft of free labour, relying on the enthusiasm and committment of a core of people entering a competitive market, and looking for any opportunity. It seems bizarre that even within the same buildings will sit a host of staff, from cleaners to executives who are carrying out similar tasks, but rightly expect to be remunirated for their labour (and indeed are protected by the National Minimum Wage).

Internships, work experience, apprenticeships and all the rest work well as part of a balanced learning experience. They must not be a way for businesses or organizations in any sector to buoy up poor practice that means they cannot afford to staff themselves adequately to stay open.

As famously referenced by Whistler in his defence of a two hundred guinea price tag on the Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, creatives have a right to expect decent remuniration for their work. We may enjoy it, it may even look relatively easy or quick, but the value attached must be a reflection not only of the time spent creating one piece, project or concept, but of the lifetime spent to get to the point where this can be delivered so fluently. We face a bleak picture for individuals in the creative sector until employers and clients are prepared to reflect our real value in what we are paid, employment legislation is formed and enforced to put in place a safety net, and the members of the creative community are prepared to take pride in their worth and not to bow to expectations of giving their labour for free to those who can or should be able to pay for it.