Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 18 July 2018 to Question 163133 on Work Experience: Pay, what the timetable is for the public guidance to be updated.

The updated internship guidance will clarify the checks employers need to take to ensure compliance with the law. The update will be published shortly alongside other regular updates to the guidance entitled “Calculating the National Minimum Wage”.

HMRC are continuing to write to employers advertising unpaid internships to help them understand National Minimum Wage law. Similarly, HMRC also engage with at-risk groups, with over 1.6 million text messages sent to workers, 1.3 million texts sent to working tax credit recipients, and 370,000 texts sent to apprentices.

HMRC responds to 100% of worker complaints and also conducts proactive, targeted enforcement. In the 2017/18 financial year, HMRC identified £15.6 million in arrears for over 200,00 workers.