Arts Group

The following notice has been given on artsjobs.org.uk, the Arts Council England’s Job Site:

due to the high volume of adverts for unpaid opportunities that contravene Minimum Wage Regulations we are temporarily suspending adverts for unpaid work, work experience, voluntary roles or internships. This is so we can make developments to the website that will help users to post genuine volunteering opportunities only and stay within Minimum Wage Regulations.

Arts Council England is committed to ensuring that artists and those who work in the creative industries are properly remunerated for any work that they do. We recognise that there is great value in people having access to proper work experience, where it is offered and arranged properly and is a mutually beneficial arrangement, but that this should never be used as a way of attempting to circumvent the Minimum Wage Regulations.

This is a great mark of progress in the issue being taken seriously, especially in the wake of the embarrassing attempt to violate NMW laws en masse by the Old Vic Theatre recently.

Freshly returned from NUS Annual Conference 2010 it’s my pleasure to report on the Arts Group Policy that was passed by the sovereign body of the largest organization of its kind in the western world.

Safeguarding funding for arts subjects

NUS passed our calls for funding to be specifically identified and ringfenced for the subjects that feed the creative industries, in recognition of the continued and growing contribution that we make to the UK economy. In policy 301 of the Higher Education Zone, the conference acknowledged that:

Despite the substantial and growing contribution the creative and cultural sector makes to the UK economy, the Arts Subjects that feed them consistently face disproportionate cuts.

And in response has mandated the organization to:

For NUS to lobby for additional and protected funding allocation for subjects related to the Creative & Cultural Industries, in addition to any STEM Funding priorities

Fighting the exploitation of Unpaid Interns

After months of the National Executive failing to take any significant action on internships, the Conference passed policy endorsing the work of the Arts Group and other campaigns including Intern Aware and Internocracy. Our amendment (611a) in the Welfare Zone commits the NUS to act as follows:

1.  
   1. To work with Interns Aware, Internocracy, and Interns Anonymous to highlight the challenges facing students and graduates on unpaid internships.
   2. To lobby the Low Pay Commission to clamp down on employers who are breaking the law by not paying the national minimum wage where this is entitled.
   3. To work with the TUC to highlight to students their rights at work, and their entitlement to pay, if a person is undertaking an internship for more than 3 months.
   4. In partnership with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) lobby the CBI to implement the Interns Charter across all employers who recruit interns.
   5. For NUS to lobby for a crackdown from the HMRC and other government agencies on unpaid “internships” and other instances of National Minimum Wage legislation being broken.
   6. To work on the proposals for the development of a legal definition of an “internship” and how this may differ from existing work experience and volunteer legislation.
   7. To adopt The Arts Group’s stance that living wage should be awarded to Interns.
   8. To work progressively for more and higher quality work experience and placement opportunities across FE & HE Courses that meet the terms of the Arts Group’s recommendations.
   9.  To ask students’ unions to campaign for a distinction between paid and unpaid internships in University careers’ services.
   10.  To investigate the feasibility of total income (whether from loans, grants, bursaries or payment from employers) for students on placements during their courses to be at least equal to National Minimum Wage for the duration of hours they work.

We can look forward to working with the NUS to make sure that this policy generates tangible activity, despite a poor record from the organization of action on our previous calls for action against Hidden Course Costs, passed at last year’s conference (re-actioned on a wider scale by a motion this year). It’s likely that the best approach for impact on the Internships initially would be the introduction of the Skillset guidelines as a legislative measure, as (despite focussing on National Minimum Wage rather than living wage) they outline a fantastic and clearly thought out system of work-based learning opportunities as well as post-graduation Internships.

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

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)