CIPD calls for internship wages

A £2.50-per-hour training wage should be introduced for internships across the UK, a leading management body has said.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has claimed that a universal training wage would reward an intern for the contribution they make to a company and might also encourage people from poorer backgrounds to apply.

About one in three internships are currently unpaid, according to CIPD research, and the organisation said the wage, proposed in its Internships: To Pay or not To Pay? report, could apply to all employment sectors.

Tom Richmond, skills adviser at the CIPD, said: "The continued existence of a major loophole in the national minimum wage legislation has created a lot of confusion and concern around the issue of whether interns should be paid or not.

"We believe that the introduction of this training wage would reflect the contribution that interns make to their organisations."

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