Foreign Office found to be running embassies with unpaid interns

The Foreign Office has been using hundreds of unpaid and low-paid interns in overseas UK embassies over the last five years, it has been discovered. A response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) Act request confirmed the widespread use of the practice, despite the Government announcing harsher measures on employers using unpaid internship schemes.

Business Insider have released data uncovered by the FoI submission showing that the FCO hires interns for months at a time for little or no payment – sometimes not even covering travel expenses. The website reports:

“Business Insider obtained a detailed breakdown on the use of interns in British Embassies including USA, Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan, Italy, South Africa, and China, and it shows they are regularly used in numerous other embassies around the world as well.

One work placement in Berlin, Germany, lasted eight months and did not even come with paid expenses. Another in Washington, D.C., worked for 11 months on a wage of just $75 a month.

Unpaid internships contradict official government policy. In January 2014, business secretary Vince Cable announced a clampdown on companies using unpaid interns, quadrupling the maximum penalty for paying less than national minimum wage from £5,000 to £20,000 per offence.”

There were 139 interns used at the British Embassy in Washington DC over a four year period. The internships tended to last between three and five months, and the average pay was just $0.60 an hour.

In December, Liam Byrne confirmed Labour would crack down on unpaid internships. He said:

“The best jobs are getting locked up by those with the richest parents. That isn’t right. It isn’t fair. And it needs to change.”

With unfair internship positions still being advertised in British embassies, will Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond be confirming an end to the practice?