MPs love to talk about social mobility. All of the three main parties claim they want to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds get the jobs they deserve. If only they practised what they preached. Too many Members of Parliament advertise for unpaid internships. They are unfair and may well be illegal.

STATEMENT FROM DODS/POLITICSHOME

A spokesman for Dods has issued the following statement:

“PoliticsHome takes extremely seriously the defamatory allegations made by Intern Aware. We do not break the law with our intern policy, nor do we treat them unfairly in any way.

Unpaid internships aren’t just wrong; in most cases they are illegal. Underemployment law, people who work set hours, do set tasks, and contribute value to an organisation are “workers” and are entitled to the minimum wage. This means even if your internship was just about being expected to turn up at a certain time and add some numbers in Excel you are likely to be entitled to pay. And as it is impossible to sign away your rights, even if you have agreed to work without pay you can still claim. Every time an intern has taken their employer to court for not being paid the minimum wage they have won.