Issued by: Department for Business and Trade

Call for Evidence launched into unpaid internships as some employers fail to pay young workers despite ban.

• Evidence will be collected to better protect younger workers from being exploited by illegal unpaid internships.

• Tackling this issue would put money back into the pockets of interns across the UK.

• This delivers on a commitment to stop employers flouting the rules around unpaid internships, ensuring fair career pathways are accessible to all, breaking down barriers to opportunity as part of the Plan for Change.

Younger workers will be protected from employers flouting the rules on the use exploitative unpaid internships, as government takes a step closer on delivering its manifesto commitment to ban the practice.

Today (Thursday 17 July) the government has launched its call for evidence on the issue. This forms part of the Make Work Pay agenda, the biggest upgrade to worker’s rights in a generation which will directly benefit over 15 million workers - half of all workers in the UK.

Internships offer young people invaluable experience as they build their careers. When these are unpaid or paid below the National Minimum Wage, barriers to equal opportunity are created based on where people live, how old they are, or their social background.

Unpaid internships are already largely banned under current law, when they are not part of an educational or training course. The government is committed to strengthening these protections by gathering more evidence on how unpaid internships affect young people, and how businesses use them to assess candidates.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:

"Every young person deserves the chance to build their career through quality work experience, but good employers are still being undercut by those exploiting interns by illegally asking them to work for free.

"Our Plan for Change seeks to break down barriers to opportunity, which is why we will strengthen protections for younger workers so that internships are accessible to everyone, ensuring they have the foundations to build a strong and successful career."

Employment Rights Minister Justin Madders said:

"Internships provide a strong platform from which to build a career, allowing young people to learn new skills and giving employers a pipeline of future talent to hire from to grow their business.

"Employers should not be taking advantage of the opportunities on offer by not paying their interns. This move will help us crack down on those not following the rules, so that the next generation of interns are able to gain that crucial experience whilst earning a fair wage."

Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said:

"Taking action on internships with low or no pay is absolutely the right thing to do. We’ve found that 61% of internships undertaken by recent graduates were ‘unpaid or underpaid’, effectively excluding those who can’t rely on financial support from family.

"Employers will benefit from the wider pool of talent available to them, and three quarters of employers told us a ban wouldn’t impact the number of opportunities they provide. Today’s announcement marks a significant step in the right direction."

The Call for Evidence will run for [12 weeks, closing on 9 October 2025].

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• The Sutton Trust’s report, Unpaid and underpaid internships (https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/unpaid-and-underpaid-internships), was published on 23rd January 2025.

• The Sutton Trust surveyed 1,232 recent graduates (aged between 21 and 29) were surveyed between 10 and 11 December 2024 via Public First. 623 recent graduates reported completing at least one internship. All results are weighted using Iterative Proportional Fitting, or ‘Raking’. The results are weighted by age, gender and region to census data proportions.

• For the Sutton Trust’s report, employers were surveyed with a sample of 1,009 senior HR decision makers at businesses across Great Britain. Fieldwork was conducted online, between 10 and 18 December 2024, via YouGov, with quotas set by business size targeting 50% in small (10 to 49 employees), 25% in medium (50 to 249 employees) and 25% in large (250+ employees) businesses, to give statistically robust data.

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