Internships, job substitution and the private sector

The issues of the growth in internships, volunteers being substituted for paid staff and volunteering in the private sector are becoming ever more relevant as public spending cuts affect organisations in all sectors.

Our focus is to ensure that volunteering is preserved as activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives.

Internships

Internships have been the focus of much debate in the news recently, with some arguing that they are either a form of job substitution or a way of exploiting cheap labour, and others that they are vital to both charities and those who want to work for them.

Key to the confusion is that the term 'intern' is not defined in UK law, so, depending on the situation, they may be workers or volunteers. We have therefore worked with a range of organisations to produce the following information sheet that aims to clarify the situation.

• Free Information Sheet: Internships explained (204.7Kb) [PDF]

You may also be interested to read our policy blog post 'Internships - opportunity or exploitation?' which highlights some areas of debate.

Job substitution

As the impact of public spending cuts becomes clear, we are being asked by an increasing number of organisations about the legality of replacing positions that have been made redundant with volunteers.

We have therefore produced A guide to avoiding job substitution (435.6Kb) in partnership with Locality,  NAVCA and NCVO. The guide notes a range of scenarios which could be considered job substitution and sets out steps in managing the process of avoiding it.

Is the role suitable for a volunteer?

The first question to ask is whether or not those roles are suitable for volunteers, who are usually involved because they bring something additional to the role that paid staff cannot. One of the principles of our charter with the TUC for strengthening relations between paid staff and volunteers is that the involvement of volunteers should complement and supplement the work of paid staff. They should not be used to displace paid staff or undercut their pay and conditions of service.

Also, unless volunteers are involved appropriately, the situation could have a negative impact on the image of volunteering in the area. This is particularly important given that the role of volunteers in delivering public services is currently high on the political agenda.

Legal issues

There are also some legal considerations, especially if a volunteer is in receipt of state benefits. Jobcentre Plus and HM Revenue and Customs can investigate instances of suspected ‘notional earnings’. If the claimant performs a service for someone and either isn’t paid or is paid less than for comparable employment in the area, their benefits claim could be affected. For more information see the Directgov web page about volunteering while on benefits.

Also, there have been cases in which volunteers have been found by an employment tribunal to be in effect an employee or worker. This has conferred on them employment rights such as the national minimum wage. For more information, see our free publication 'Volunteers and the law' (281.8Kb) .

Job substitution or volunteer susbtitution?

There is risk, however, that the current focus on job substitution distracts from a potentially more substantive trend; that of ‘volunteer substitution'.

In Job substiution or volunteer substitution? (122.1Kb) , Alan Strickland of Volunteering England and Nick Ockenden of the Institute for Volunteering Research consider this under explored issue. They also look at the relevance of job substitution to volunteering and explore why the issue of job substitution has gained more prominence in recent years.

Volunteering in the private sector

There is some volunteering that happens in the private sector, such as in private care homes. Whether or not such activity is volunteering depends on the role - whether it is activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives.

Importantly, in all sectors, the involvement of volunteers should complement and supplement the work of paid staff. It should not be used to displace paid staff or undercut their pay and conditions of service. This is a key element of our charter with the TUC for strengthening relations between paid staff and volunteers.