How can having an intern help my business?

An internship is an opportunity that offers an individual to learn more about a particular field or role through job shadowing and hands-on experience. The benefits of creating an internship program include:

• Helping to fill employment gaps
• Reducing recruitment costs
• Advertise your business and increase your brand awareness to potential employees
• Investing in your community

What funding is available?

Businesses in either the Peterborough City Council or Fenland District Council areas are eligible to apply for a grant of up to £5000 to cover the salary of an intern at the National Living Wage rate for a 12 week period.

How much will it cost us as a business?

Fundamentally nothing apart from your business' time to invest in and support an individual to learn and further their career. All Turning Point interns will be paid by funds available to you from the project. These funds allow all interns to be paid the National Living Wage for the duration of the 12 weeks.

Any further agreement past the 12 weeks will be separate to the programme and agreed between yourselves and the intern, which may include further costs.

Individuals can also apply for a training fund grant of up to £600 to pay towards a course that will help them to achieve their desired role. We ask that you fully support an intern’s development.

How do we apply to take part in the Turning Point programme?

Let us know you are interested by completing an Expression of Interest form. One of our Skills & Business Engagement Managers will contact you to answer any questions you may have and to discuss your company’s requirements.

How long does the programme last?

Turning Point internships are funded for 12 weeks. Extension of the internship can be discussed on an individual basis between both parties (business & intern) however will not be funded further by the project.

What is expected of us as a business offering an internship?

As a standard, we would expect an agreed period of 12 weeks of internship opportunity that offers a high-quality experience for both businesses and interns. We recommend using the CIPD’s guidelines available.

The work undertaken can include tasking an intern to take part in a specific piece of work, different projects or shadowing different roles. Just the same as a job description, you can list the specific tasks of the internship in the vacancy information.

Can the intern's role be either a full time or a part time position?

Yes it can be either. If it is a part time position the £5000 grant will be paid pro-rata accordingly. The duration of the internship must be for the full 12 weeks for both full and part time positions.

What hours can interns work?

Our interns are expected to work 37.5 hours a week for the 12 week duration. This work can be a combination of business-based and remote working. How often you require the intern to be in the office depends on the agreement that you make between yourselves and is also dependent upon Covid guidelines.

How will we recruit?

You can recruit by your normal methods, but all internship vacancies are advertised on our portal.

Do we have to employ an intern after the 12 week period?

No, however, our aim is that all completed internships will open doors for those who have taken part to include further training, a greater understanding of an industry or a job.

Is there a limit to how many intern grants our business can apply for?

Yes, in the spirit of trying to make this process fair and to assist as many different companies across the region as possible, at this stage an organisation can apply for funding for a maximum of three interns.