National Minimum Wage

This subject has been a grey area for a while but recent conversations with the National Minimum Wage (NMW) helpline suggests:

A volunteer working for a charity, voluntary organisation, charity shop, school, hospital or similar body need not be paid the national minimum wage because they do not have any contractual arrangement and therefore are not classed as workers. They can come and go as they please, do not have set work obligations or have set hours. It is still acceptable for them to receive some sort of payment of benefit in kind ie reasonable expenses, relevant training or subsistence (but not money for subsistence).

Someone wanting to work on a voluntary basis for non-charitable commercial enterprises to gain experience and have something on their CV cannot waiver the right to the minimum wage. This would undermine the National Minimum Wage Bill and go against the principle that volunteering should be for the social good rather than being a form of cheap labour for commercial profit.

Apart from working for a voluntary organisation or charity as a volunteer, if work shadowing ie basically watching or if doing work experience as a mandatory part of a university degree then there is no obligation to pay the minimum wage, except:

• If they are doing work that they would have to employ someone else to do if they were not there.

• If they have a contract (express or implied, verbal or in writing) and where there is mutual obligation (ie the individual is not free to go at any time and has certain tasks to perform). An oral agreement to perform certain services is considered to be the basis of a contract.

More Information:

National Minimum Wage, Author: Vincent Keter Business and Transport Section

More information is also available at the DTI