£5500 – the cost of being an intern for six months

Almost a third of graduates are taking unpaid internships in a bid to kick-start their career, even though it can set them back hundreds of pounds a month.

This means people from ‘modest backgrounds’ are being shut out of competitive industries as they’re having to fork out hundreds in living costs while working for free, research suggests.

A six-month unpaid placement in London costs more than £5,500. excluding transport. While, for a similar position in Manchester, a graduate would need £4,700.

But despite the costs, there are at least 21,000 people working as unpaid interns in the UK at any one time.

The figures come as a survey by the Sutton Trust found almost 70 per cent of people in England believe unpaid internships are unfair and everybody should be paid some sort of salary.

Read the full report on page 26 of the Metro e-edition here.