Funding placement year -unpaid internship

pwincessDebs

My DD is on an unpaid internship for 6 months. And is applying for another one to start in January. Her finance has finally come in. £853 per term. She is in London.
I have supported her since she started in June.Now have no more funds left. This terms finance will keep her until Xmas.
Januarys Finance will see her through to February. LEA say no further funding available. She is not part of todays news about 'unpaid interns' as it is considered to be part of her course.
Where can I find help to finance the rest of the year?

HELP!!!

Prothet_of_Doom

What course is she doing? And where is she getting 'experience' ?

pwincessDebs

She is studying Fashion and textiles and is working at a fashion design studio in the production dept.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Did I not read somewhere recently that unpaid internship has been ruled unlawful ? Minimum wage must be paid, I think.

pwincessDebs

Yes, it was on the news this morning. I phoned HMRC and they said as it is her "sandwich year" she is not covered by minimum wage.

Lokolo

Not sure why HMRC person thinks internships would be different the "placement years", they are effectively the same thing!

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Yes, I agree - maybe HMRC aren't the right authority to ask - a call to an Employment Tribunal office might be more to the point.

jacques_chirac

TurnUpForTheBooks wrote: »

Yes, I agree - maybe HMRC aren't the right authority to ask - a call to an Employment Tribunal office might be more to the point.

ET offices do not give legal advice. ACAS would be a more suitable source of information, or indeed the welfare officer at the university.

jacques_chirac

I have checked the govt guidance, and it seems placement years are excluded.

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-work-experience-and-internships

students working as a required part of a UK-based further or higher education course don’t qualify for the NMW if their placement with you or your organisation does not exceed one year. The exemption does not apply to students performing work that is not related to their course, eg to help finance their studies or during a gap year

bewildered123

Is there any chance her student finance has been wrongly calculated? I presume that she is living at home and that your family income is high from the figures you give, but if it looks a lot different than usual then asking for a reassessment might be in order. The SLC have been known to make errors with placement years... The student finance team at her university might be able to give some help on this. Placement students can also apply for help from the hardship funds (access to learning fund) administered by the university if they experience unexpected costs - it might be worth your daughter looking at the criteria to see if she might be eligible.
I know the fashion industry is well-known for being exploitative, (some industrial sectors pay their placement students rather well), but could she try and negotiate at least her travel expenses being paid?

atypical

jacques_chirac wrote: »

I have checked the govt guidance, and it seems placement years are excluded.

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-work-experience-and-internships

Placement years are excluded. There was a lot of press one time about unpaid interns acting as MPs' researchers. This died down after the University of Leeds introduced a Politics course with a 1 year placement as an MPs assistant (unpaid of course). Seems no better an outcome to me.

http://www.polis.leeds.ac.uk/undergraduates/ba-politics-parliamentary-studies/