Unpaid work costs interns £926 a month

A third of university graduates who are employed as interns receive no payment, while paying out up to £926 a month in living costs, according to new research published on Wednesday.

A six-month unpaid internship would cost a single person living in London a minimum of £5,556, according to research by the Sutton Trust, which argues that interns who work for more than a month should be paid at least the minimum wage of £6.50 per hour.

A similar placement in Manchester would cost £4,728, or £788 a month for accommodation, bills and food, excluding transport costs which are usually paid by the employer.

An estimated 21,000 interns are working for nothing in the UK at any one time, despite widespread public concern about them giving huge advantage to young people from wealthy families better positioned to work for free. A newly published Ipsos Mori poll for the Sutton Trust says 70% of people aged 16-75 in England agree unpaid internships “are unfair because only people from wealthy families are likely to be able to work for a significant period without pay”.

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