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Work Experience Programme

Discover what's required to provide a placement for our work experience programme.

Please Note: The following information relates to the 2023 programme. The 2024 programme is on pause while we review our wider offer for the Young Community. We have left our Work Experience guidance available on the website as resources for anyone considering organising a placement offer directly through their place of work, but we advise that organisations seek their own legal and HR advice.

What kind of providers are you looking for?

  • We want a wide range of placements that's a mixture of onsite, online, and hybrid (mix of remote and in-person)
  • We'd love to hear from all types of creative and cultural freelancers and organisation - especially in fashion, TV, film, music, theatre, and games
  • We want each placement to be an eye-opening taster for your industry. Great work experience tasks are varied, informative, challenging and fun!
  • We want to cater to a wider range of our Young Talent’s backgrounds

Who can offer an offer Work Experience?
Freelancers, sole traders and organisations can offer online placements. Only organisations with an office can offer on-site placements.

  • If you are a mentor, please check our Mentoring Work Experience FAQs for more information on what to expect.
  • If you are not a mentor, please look out for our annual work experience programme updates.

Where can the placements be?
You can offer an online placement anywhere in the UK. On-site placements should be in Manchester, Merseyside, Brighton and London only.

Why do you offer work experience for a minimum of 5 days only?
We'd love to offer longer work experience placements, but we believe that it is unfair to expect a young person to work for free for any longer than 5 days. We do understand that it is challenging for budgets. But the rising cost of living extends to young people too. Not all of our young people are in education and/or live at home or have financial stability.


Budget

Do we have to pay for expenses?
If you are hosting a 5-day online placement, you do not have to provide expenses.

If you are hosting a 5-day hybrid or onsite placement, you are expected to cover lunch and travel expenses. The minimum all organisations should provide is a total of £75 in expenses (this is based on £15 per day)

What happens if I want to host a work experience placement longer than 5 days?
If there are any work experience placements (including online) which last longer than 5 days, they must be paid at the real Living Wage rate.

While the UK government's statutory National Living Wage covers people over 23, Arts Emergency believes that organisations should pay the real Living Wage. This is in our Organisation Code of Conduct which all work experience placement providers must sign to deliver work experience with Arts Emergency.

With paid work experience placements, do you expect us to pay Living Wage for young people aged under 18?
Yes. This is particularly important for the young people we work with as we prioritise those who need Arts Emergency support the most. You can find out more information about our eligibility criteria here.

With paid placements, providing expenses on top of the Living Wage is optional.

For help calculating the cost of a placement please use our work placement calculator below.


What do you expect from all work experience providers?

  • to sign up to our Network if they have not done so already

  • to sign and adhere to our Code of Conduct

  • commit to providing a 5 day placement as a minimum. We ask that anything longer is paid at the Living Wage for your area.

  • fill out our risk assessment template that is relevant to the type of placement you're offering

  • read our safety guidance

  • have an informal interview with the young person before the placement begins

What are the additional expectations from hybrid and on-site work experience providers?

  • they must be located in or within commutable distance to London, Brighton, Manchester or Merseyside

  • they must provide expenses for up to £15 a day to cover lunch and travel

  • they must send us an up to date Employer's Liability Insurance certificate which covers the period the placement takes place


I’m a mentor and can find my mentee work experience!

If you are a mentor and can find work experience for your mentee through your own networks, that’s great! We need your paperwork one month before it begins.

We will need

  • confirmation that it is a minimum of 5 days
  • to know if it's online, on-site, or hybrid
  • the organisation’s risk assessment
  • a valid Employers Liability Insurance certificate (cannot be expired)
  • confirmation that the organisation will adhere to our code of conduct

To arrange a work experience placement for your mentee, please fill out our form via the mentor report page as soon as possible, ideally one month before it begins. This gives us time to review the paperwork and sign everything off.

If you have any questions, please email your Programme Officer and cc in community@arts-emergency.org


Important documents you’ll need:


Need to contact us?

Please get in touch with the Community team at community@arts-emergency.org

Sign up to be notified about our Work Experience Programme

Insight Week Org Interest Form

Contact Details


Freelancers, sole-traders and organisations can offer online placements. Only organisations with an office can offer on-site or hybrid (a mix of online and onsite) placements.
Data Protection
The information collected in this form will be used solely for the purpose of organising opportunities for our young people. It will only be shared in the context of giving young people, mentors and guardians information relevant to any activities, visits or placements that are confirmed, and we will always involve you in that process. You can read our full Privacy Policy on our website.
If you have any issues using this form please contact us at tech@arts-emergency.org