Are you paying your interns at least the National Minimum Wage?

If you are considering hiring an intern, it’s important to find out whether they are entitled to be paid the National Minimum Wage (NMW).

Whether an intern should be paid NMW depends on their worker status. If they are classified as a worker for NMW purposes, they are entitled to at least the NMW for the hours they have worked during their internship.

You can find information on GOV.UK to help you work out whether an intern would be classified as a worker for NMW purposes.

Correcting NMW underpayments

If you think you’ve made a mistake you need to put things right. Here’s how you can do it:

  • Change the working practices going forward.
  • Calculate arrears: determine the arrears due to workers using current NMW rates.
  • Pay arrears: ensure the arrears are paid back to the workers. For any affected ex workers, you must make all reasonable attempts to contact them.

If you have identified and paid arrears for underpayment of minimum wage, then there is an option to inform HMRC. You can do this by requesting a form by emailing voluntarydeclaration.nmw@hmrc.gov.uk.

Further Guidance and Resources

Calculating the minimum wage – Guidance – GOV.UK

HM Revenue & Customs – GOV.UK

Export magic as York business nears 1 million sales milestone

A York-based business owner is set to export 1 million drinks to the US this year and wants more of the region’s businesses to follow in his footsteps. Phil Pinder from the Potions Cauldron will be one of the experts taking part in the export roadshows this month, organised by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.  The team will visit venues across two weeks including Tadcaster, Harrogate, Scarborough, York, Catterick and Skipton.

Innovation Supper provides funding boost for First Leaf Farm

The event followed its now well-established format: attendees enjoyed supper while hearing from local entrepreneurs, each given ten minutes to pitch their business idea followed by questions from the audience. At the end of the evening, participants voted to decide which business would receive the proceeds from ticket sales, providing both a financial boost and valuable exposure to an engaged local network.

[FULL] 1-2-1 SEO Support: Tailored advice to help your website rank higher in Google

These sessions offer practical, one-to-one SEO support that’s all about your business. Many business owners have already attended SEO courses or watched tutorials but still struggle when it comes to applying what they’ve learned to their own website. This support is designed to look at your site, your goals and discuss specific actions you can take to make real improvements.