Internships for all

Ensuring that young people from poorer backgrounds have better opportunities to access the creative industries is one of the key aims of a call for the Government to back a National Internship Kitemark Scheme (NIKS) setting standards for internships in the creative industries. The proposals, put forward by think-tank The Social Market Foundation (SMF), follow the publication of research revealing that young people from low income backgrounds are just as likely to take on unpaid work as their more affluent peers, and unpaid internships are not the cause of poor social representation in the sector. Nearly half of all those working in the sector report having taken unpaid internships to get their current jobs, but unpaid work is common across all socio-economic groups and regions, and there is no evidence to suggest that it is more common among those with private financial backing. Rather it is the strength of young people’s networks that is critical factor in explaining why those from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to secure employment in the creative industries. According to report, ‘Disconnected: social mobility and the creative industries’, word-of-mouth recruitment is more common than formal recruitment in the creative industries and this favours the well-connected. It concludes that, rather than “fixating on trying to phase out the unpaid nature of work experience” policy-makers should instead make sure that these experiences are open to a wider group of young people. The proposed kitemark scheme would aim to do just that: employers who sign up to it would offer internships for no more than 3 months at a time, and would include an induction, a performance review and a guaranteed reference letter for all interns. The SMF describes its proposals as being low cost, yet able to “make a big difference to spreading opportunity to young people from poorer backgrounds to access jobs in the creative industries and beyond”. Paul Collard, Chief Executive of Creativity, Culture and Education, endorsed the proposals, saying: “Policymakers need to take action now to ensure that the creative industries aren’t only open to the well-connected.”