The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) today release a letter to MPs entitled ‘STAFFING BUDGETS, CONSTITUENCY OFFICE RENTALS AND INTERNS’.
It first came to our attention from The Guardian’s Polly Curtis on Twitter: ‘Ipsa’s ruling means that Westminster interns will be paid the minimum wage and MPs will get more in their staffing budget to pay for it…’
However, Internocracy got hold of the letter to MPs and it isn’t quite as straightforward as that. From the letter:
‘Our position on interns has not changed; when the expenses scheme was launched, our primary concern was to ensure that all those engaged in parliamentary work were treated fairly. This led us to conclude that interns should have a contract of employment.’
Promising. But it goes on to state:
‘for those MPs wishing to engage a new intern now, there are two options. The first is to pay them incidental expenses only. For the time being if an MP chooses this route he or she will have to fund those expenses themselves, as the rules do not allow for reimbursement. This is why we are consulting. The second option is to provide the intern with a contract of employment. IPSA would fund this, but MPs should be aware that they will need to pay such interns at the minimum wage at least.’
So far, so… we’re not sure. What do you think? Is this the first step to genuine reform of a defunct system of unpaid parliamentary internships or is this another in an increasingly long line of fudges as alluded to by Helen on a previous blog on this site?
We’ll keep our eyes peeled and fingers crossed. In the meantime, we’ll continue to be pushing IPSA and anyone we can find to help us raise the bar and lower the barriers.
Dom
Pingback: Breakthrough for unpaid interns? MPs promise to pay theirs (sort of) | Graduate Fog