Funding for Work Experience

Find out about how the Careers Service can help with unpaid internships.

The Careers Service does not advertise unpaid internships, however, we know that some occupational areas, such as media and journalism, can be difficult to break into without first gaining experience on an unpaid basis. 

It's important though to understand your employment rights. Many unpaid internships out there are in fact illegal and should be paid.

If you do decide to take unpaid work experience, we can provide some financial help for eligible students through the Career Insights Bursary.

For certain sectors, such as science, there may be research scholarships available to help fund summer internships. Some graduate recruiters also offer competitions for paid work experience. See individual roles within Explore Occupations for more details.

Understand your rights

If you're considering working on an unpaid basis, then you may have questions about your employment or payment rights. Gov.uk sets out legislation, payment entitlement, and sources of further help.

The following websites give information about unpaid work experience:

• AllAboutCareers: Know Your Rights – article on pay entitlements for placements, internships and work experience
• Manchester University: unpaid work experience – covers how to structure your work experience and questions about expenses
• Rightsforinterns.org – Trade Union Congress (TUC) website covering questions about whether or not interns should be paid
• How-box – article titled 'Are unpaid internships legal?' 
• Gov.uk - information regarding employment rights and pay for interns
• Acas: Working for Everyone - offers information regarding worker status and unpaid internships