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Work Experience FAQs for Mentors

Got a question about providing work experience for your mentee? We’re here to help!

What kind of work placements can mentors provide?

Placements can be online, on-site, or hybrid (a mixture of the two). Freelancers, sole-traders and organisations can offer online placements. Only organisations with an office/site can offer on-site or hybrid placements.

How long does a work placement have to be?

Work experience placements can run from 5 to 10 working days. However, placements which last more than one week must be paid.

Paying expenses and wages

Placement providers who host five-day on-site or hybrid work experience placements must also provide lunch and travel expenses. The minimum we think that all organisations should provide is a total of £75 in expenses for a 5 day work placement (this is based on £15 per day).

Work placements which last longer than five days, 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 regardless of age. 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.

How to let Arts Emergency know if you are arranging a work placement.

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.

What information do mentors need to provide?

The key pieces of information that the form will ask you to provide are:

  • The contact details of yourself, your mentee and the organisation

  • The dates you’re looking to host your mentee

  • Confirmation on whether it’s online, on-site, or hybrid

  • A completed assessment (see links to templates below)

  • Expenses/wages information

  • You’ll need to sign the organisation code of conduct

  • If the placement is on-site or hybrid, we’d need you to provide a valid Employers Liability Insurance certificate.

Important documents you’ll need:

Select the relevant risk assessment template for you to fill out and send to us:

What happens after you submit the placement information?

We will review your risk assessment and Employers Liability Insurance certificate before the placement starts. We will send you an email once it has been approved.

What happens at the end of the placement?

We ask that you schedule a final check-in session towards the end of your placement with the young person.

After the placement, Arts Emergency will email you a placement report for you to complete. It includes a section where you can provide a character reference for your mentee.

Need to contact us?

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