Firms failing to pay student interns for their work have been criticised by a senior Keighley-based business school lecturer and communications expert, who has called on them top ‘get real’.

Robert Minton-Taylor has joined the rising controversy over treatment of interns as details of 100 companies accused of using unpaid interns in paid roles have been handed to Her Mejesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by Employment Minister Jo Swinson.

The Leeds Business School marketing, public relations and communications lecturer has called on organisations using interns not to treat them as cheap labour. Mr Minton-Taylor, an award-winning PR expert who lives in Cononley, said: “I’m not talking about A-level students who spend a week or so getting a taste of work, but college students who are actually doing a real job but receive no payment.

“We’re quick enough to rightly condemn companies that exploit cheap labour in Third World countries but it’s not the sort of behaviour we should expect in 21st Century Britain.

“Yet I know of some agencies in my sector that are culpable of expecting young people to work for nothing.”

Speaking ahead of a Chartered Institute of Marketing debate on employment for young people this week, Mr Minton-Taylor said the practice was “invidious” and “deeply disturbing".

He said: “All I am asking is that firms pay the going rate for the job. Is that too much to ask in a country like Britain renowned for its fair play? Not paying a wage is tantamount to slave labour.

“My 45 years in industry and commerce has shown that there is simply no excuse for not paying students in employment a wage. I am sick and tired of hearing excuses given by employers about why students should not be paid. Sure, students learn on the job – but so do we all. Interns add real value to businesses and are capable of producing award-winning work so they should be treated fairly and rewarded accordingly. Genuine unpaid internships with a proper and established learning contract in place should last no more than two to four weeks and the employer should be prepared to pay the student’s travel and subsistence expenses. Over and above four weeks interns should be paid the minimum wage.”

Employment minister Jo Swinson said that claims by the Intern Aware organisation that un-named employers broke the law by using unpaid interns could be used as intelligence by officials at Revenues and Customs.

In a letter to the campaign group, she said: “The list of employers that you provided will be treated as intelligence by HMRC. Intelligence forms part of the risk process by helping to identify sectors where there is a higher likelihood of non-compliance."

Employers break the law if they fill full-time positions, that would be subject to national minimum wage rules, with unpaid interns.