Can I take on a short-term intern without becoming an 'employer'?

[Entreprecurious]

I have a small start-up, I advertised for an intern - looking for a student who wants hands-on experience at a small company and will do some social media stuff. My understanding from a friend who had done a similar thing was that it would be possible to offer expenses only. I've since read more and it seems that, unless the internship is a mandatory part of a degree course, interns need to be paid minimum wage. I'm absolutely fine with paying them that but when I called ACAS to check the details they (a) were very unsure of the rules because there have been some recent changes (b) seemed to think that I'd also need to have a full employment contract with said intern, pay employers NI, pension, ensure holiday allowance etc. They didn't seem at all sure though and suggested I get legal advice, which I really can't afford so I thought I'd ask others what they've done.

I'm literally looking for an intern for 5-10 hours a week for a 1-4 months and had no idea, naively, that it would be this complex.

Alternatively, can I treat them as self-employed and get them to invoice me? Or do I still become an employer?

All advice much appreciated.

The info on the government website about internships is actually pretty clear, I think. There's been no primary legislation change and 'intern' is not a term which has any legal status, the same rules apply for interns as anyone else...

www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns

From what you describe the intern will probably be a worker or an employee. I wouldn't advise going down the self-employed route, I don't think this is a self-employed situation unless the intern is also doing work for other 'clients' and uses their own IT kit, can sub-contract the work etc.

For a worker you don't have to give them a written statement of T&Cs/contract, but it might be useful to do a short T&Cs document anyway for the avoidance of any doubt. You should be able to find a basic template online, basic things to include are name and address of employer, start date of work, end date of work, place of work, salary/pay arrangements inc whether salary will be paid monthly, weekly etc, any minimum/maximum number of hours expected to be worked. You should pay national minimum wage (or ideally National Living Wage). The hours can be casual/as and when, but you should ensure holiday pay on top.

If they earn less than £166 p/week (if only work 10 hours p/week at NMW they're unlikely to earn more) they don't pay NI, so you don't have to worry about that. And if they are under 22 or earning less than £10k per year then you don't have to enrol them in a pensions scheme.

You need to abide by all other normal employment law provisions ie no discrimination, allow rest breaks etc. But otherwise it really shouldn't be too complicated! Hope it works out for you...

An intern isn't a 'thing'. Work experience is fine, or a work placement as part of study is fine. Calling someone doing work for you an 'intern' doesn't make any difference in terms of their rights or your obligations.

I would suggest the most appropriate option for this person is to have them as a casual worker, due to the low number of hours and short period of time involved.

You can't 'treat' them as self-employed - they'd have to actually be self-employed, and it doesn't sound like that would genuinely be the case in reality.

Thanks v much Maxelly - that's really helpful. I've found some v helpful sample contracts online and, as you say, it sounds fairly straightforward.

maxelly is right that if they are under 22 or earning less than £10k you don’t have to enrol them in a pension scheme. However, if they are a worker they do have the right to opt into a scheme so you will have to make sure one is available.