Press release -

NUS WELCOMES MILBURN REPORT ON SOCIAL MOBILITY

The National Union of Students (NUS) today welcomed proposals from the Rt. Hon Alan Milburn, the Government-appointed Independent Reviewer of Social Mobility and Child Poverty, for NUS and TUC to work with the Government to improve access to internships.

Mr Milburn's progress report recognises that work experience is increasingly important to social mobility and that there are significant barriers for many young people to finding useful internships.

These barriers range from informal recruitment, which favours those with connections within their favoured industry, exploitation of interns as unpaid labour (a particular problem in the creative industries), and poor quality of placements which do not help interns to develop useful skills.

Liam Burns, NUS President, said:

“We look forward to working with the Government and TUC to reduce hindrances to accessing internships, improving their quality, and cracking down on employers who exploit unpaid labour. "

“This progress report is a thoughtful addition to the debate and shows Nick Clegg and HMRC are in a position to act now to ensure fairer access to internships. It is crucial that we all work together to put these words into action and to ensure that barriers are broken down and the opportunities of work experience are available to all."

ENDS

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Topics

  • Education

Categories

  • work experience
  • social mobility
  • internships
  • nus
  • National Student Union
  • Liam Burns

Regions

  • England

NUS (National Union of Students) is a voluntary membership organisation which makes a real difference to the lives of students and its member students' unions.

We are a confederation of 600 students' unions, amounting to more than 95 per cent of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Through our member students' unions, we represent the interests of more than seven million students.

Contacts

Will Hoyles

Press contact NUS UK Press Officer 07866 695010

Alex Jones

Press contact Press and Public Affairs Manager

Mike Heffron

Press contact NUS Scotland Campaigns and Communications Officer 07554 451941

Joni Alexander

Press contact NUS Wales Campaigns and Communications Officer 07966 102363

Ian Williamson

Press contact NUS-USI (Northern Ireland) Policy and Public Affairs Officer 028 9024 4641

NUS UK Switchboard

Press contact 0845 5210 262

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