**GRADUATE FOG EXCLUSIVE**
The government’s new social mobility czar – hired by Nick Clegg – has recruited unpaid interns in the past, Graduate Fog can exclusively reveal.
We know that the multimillionaire and former Dragons’ Den star James Caan has publicly advertised for at least one unpaid internship – because we squared up to him about it at the time.
The advert for the three-month James Caan Foundation Internship – coming in at almost 1,000 words – was posted in August 2010. Despite having clear responsibilities, the position’s salary was stated as ‘none’.
The legal situation is murkier around internships at charities than other organisations – as they can claim that unpaid interns are ‘voluntary workers’ who need not be paid the minimum wages. However, unpaid placements at third sector organisations have been widely criticised for excluding those who can’t afford to work for free and many – including Labour MP Hazel Blears – have called for the law to be tightened to ensure that these vital opportunities are open to all.
Now, the charity sector – along with fashion, media and politics – is considered to be one of the most exclusive and difficult industries for graduates without significant financial support to enter.
Graduate Fog accepts that the internship was advertised some time ago – but what is concerning is that James Caan’s spokesperson – his daughter Hanah – seemed not even to understand our concerns about the role being unpaid. Instead, she merely stressed that legally her father seemed to be on solid ground, reminding us that:
“…workers employed by charities, voluntary organisations and associated fund-raising bodies are not entitled to the national minimum wage.”
Nice. Neither Hanah – nor James – apologised or agreed to reconsider the terms of the appointment. Still, we like to give people – even tight-fisted multimillionaires – a second chance. So this morning, we emailed Hanah again:
To: Hanah Caan
From: Graduate Fog
Date: 5 June 2013, 9am
Subject: Press comment pleaseHi Hanah,
I was interested to read that James Caan has been appointed as the government’s new social mobility czar.
You may remember that we emailed back in 2010 about an internship at the James Caan Foundation that was advertised as paying expenses only:
Can you clarify whether James has subsequently changed his policy on using unpaid labour?
With thanks,
Tanya de Grunwald
Founder, GraduateFog.co.uk
We will let you know when we hear back…
What was ridiculous was the other day James Caan called publicly on parents not to help their kids get jobs for at least a year – then after a tiny bit of journalistic digging on LinkedIn it emerged Hanah (who you’ve quoted above) went to work with him straight after uni after having taken roles in the past, and his other daughter now also works for him.
Regardless of his protestations that his daughters were recruited fairly (which – if he had any input – seems impossible unless false names or name-blanking) surely only a remedial knowledge of PR would lead to you twigging how it looks – particularly after his last speech?
Hannah is of course wrong in saying
Hannah is of course wrong in saying
“…workers employed by charities, voluntary organisations and associated fund-raising bodies are not entitled to the national minimum wage.”
Legally she should say “volunteers employed by charities….etc”
Idiot!
Very good point Peter – though legally the word “employ” and similar words are also probably best avoided: “individuals who freely choose to volunteer with charities” or something like that 😉
It’s pretty bad that’s it’s reached the stage that we’re more competent at writing press releases defending their shady employment practices than they are 😉
Actually Peter, I completely disagree with you on that one.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 terminology under section 44 refers to “Voluntary workers“.
A literal interpretation of that term is that Voluntary Workers are a specific type of worker. There are various requirements that must be met for a person to be a voluntary worker, set out in s.44, including that their work must be for a charity, a voluntary organisation, an associated fund-raising body or a statutory body.
Voluntary workers generally operate under contract, as they would not be workers if they didn’t have a contract!
I’m sorry to say, but I believe she’s legally right by what she’s saying.
HOWEVER! I am not in favour of charitable love of unpaid internships as voluntary workers. I believe it is an abuse of s.44 and a stain on the charitable sector.
To be entirely honest – I doubt very much whether someone who had gained notoriety from any cheap TV show, such as James Caan, could manage his way out of an open and transparent paper bag, with the exits fully sign-posted.
Perhaps, in future, Nick Clegg should invoke a modicum of Due Diligence, and pre-select candidates on the basis of competence… otherwise he may end up promoting (say) TV Cook Jamie Oliver as a Food Policy Czar, or worse, Mr Alan Sugar (who failed to achieve anything at school other than a few mediocre grades at O level) to the House of Lords.