This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A prominent Conservative minister advertised an unpaid internship to support his constituency work just hours before the government published its plan to tackle unfair working practices, the Guardian can reveal.

The housing minister Dominic Raab, who has been regularly touted as a future Tory leader, advertised the position on the W4MP website, which has a jobs board for roles with politicians. It is the only position advertised by a sitting MP that is unpaid.

The ad says the role would be based in Westminster and would “ideally suit a gap-year student or recent school leaver” to help with research and casework from Raab’s Esher and Walton constituency.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The job advert. Photograph: W4MPjobs

Raab, a prominent Brexit supporter, was given a senior ministerial role in June last year and was made a housing minister in the recent reshuffle, though many colleagues had expected him to receive a cabinet post.

On Wednesday, a day after Raab’s ad was posted, May announced a raft of labour policies aimed at tackling the debilitating effects of insecure work in response to the Downing Street-commissioned review by Matthew Taylor.

In its response, the government said it would “seek to protect workers’ rights by [taking] further action to ensure unpaid interns are not doing the job of a worker”.

The advert for the internship says travel expenses will be reimbursed and the successful candidate will be expected to work three to four days a week, for between four to six months.

The volunteer would be expected to work with a senior caseworker to help deal with constituency correspondence, supporting the senior parliamentary assistant with research, as well as doing general administrative tasks and assisting colleagues in the office.

No qualifications are specified but the advert asks for good communication and administrative skills and competency in IT. “Experience of working with members of the public would be an advantage,” it says. “Good teamwork ethic is essential.”

Raab said: “This is part-time work experience with commuter expenses paid, typically suited to a gap-year student. The role is not fixed, but designed to offer a range of experience of a parliamentary office.”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy issued guidance on internships overnight as part of its response to the Taylor review, much of which appears to be at odds with the advert.

“Exploitative unpaid internships should not exist and we will work to eradicate these,” the response states. “An employer cannot avoid paying someone the minimum wage simply by calling them an ‘intern’ or saying that they are doing an internship.”

The Labour MP Justin Madders, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on social mobility, said: “The housing minister recruiting an unpaid intern the same day the government profess they will take action in response to the Taylor review shows how little they understand the issues and how insincere their promises on workers’ rights are.

“There are millions of people out there struggling because of exploitative workplace practices – the government should be taking a lead on tackling them, not being part of the problem.”

A Labour source said: “The timing couldn’t be more embarrassing. Presumably Dominic Raab hasn’t read the recommendations of the Taylor review yet.”