As an attempt to increase diversity, Cancer Research UK has announced plans to ban unpaid internships.
In a move understood to be the first made my a large charity, Cancer Research UK will now hire between 70 and 100 over-18-year olds a year and pay them the national living wage rather than recruit them as “volunteers”.
“This is a complex issue but we felt it was the right time to tackle it. It is not right that those who can’t afford to intern unpaid should be excluded from gaining essential experience in an organisation like Cancer Research UK,” said Sir Harpal Kumar, the chief executive of Cancer Research.
Kumar added that it is “more important than ever for the public to feel they can trust big charities to operate to the highest standards”.
In February, the UK government announced plans to crack down on unpaid internships.
“Employing unpaid interns as workers to avoid paying the national minimum wage is against the law and exploitative. No one should feel like they have to work for free to get the skills and experience they need to get ahead,” said business minister Andrew Griffiths.
“That’s why over the last three months, government enforcement teams have been targeting employers advertising for unpaid interns, reminding them of the law and the consequences of breaking it,” he added.
Organisations such as Cancer Research are able to avoid this crackdown on unpaid internships due to the rules stating that “genuine volunteers” are not entitled to the minimum wage.
Despite new laws on unpaid internships, the government admitted there had been no prosecutions.
Campaigners are hoping the laws to be tightened to ensure all internships are paid, fairly advertised and awarded on merit rather than through contacts. It is hoped the new laws will make it easier to report unpaid internships to the HMRC and to introduce penalties for those who are not complying.