A UK publishing company is facing a public backlash after asking its employees to put interns up on a spare bed or couch for London-based placements in a bid to "break down barriers to entry".

Key points: The Spare Room Project claims to act "like a free Airbnb"

The Spare Room Project claims to act "like a free Airbnb" Penguin Random House UK pays its work experience students and interns

Penguin Random House UK pays its work experience students and interns PRH UK has come under fire for offering a bandaid solution to insufficient wages

Announcing a partnership with The Spare Room Project, Penguin Random House UK (PRH UK) called for industry professionals to take part in the scheme to support its paid interns and work experience students.

Established in 2016 with support from the UK's Publishers Association, The Spare Room Project claims to act "like a free Airbnb".

However, PRH UK has come under fire for offering a bandaid solution to insufficient wages.

While PRH UK pays its work experience students the National Living Wage and its interns the London Living Wage, users across the publishing house's social media accounts slammed the firm for failing to pay enough to ensure interns from outside London do not have to rely on strangers for somewhere to live.

Despite describing The Spare Room Project as "the best experience I've had in my life", former PRH UK intern Hamza, who did not wish to share his last name, acknowledged more needed to be done to help those without the necessary cash flow get a foot in the door.

The 24-year-old, from Lancashire in north-west England, completed a two-week placement with the PRH UK group's Dorling Kindersley in 2017. He stayed with a publishing professional for the entirety of his placement.

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Hamza, who credits Macmillan Publishers for securing him a job, said the experience helped him nab his current role.

He described his Spare Room experience as "eye-opening".

"If you're going to attract people from across the UK to work, it's important that publishers pay a salary that allows people to do more than just survive from pay cheque to pay cheque," he told the ABC.

Former PRH UK work experience student Shannon, who also did not wish for her last name to be used, told the ABC that while The Spare Room Project cut the cost of commuting to her placement last month, PRH UK needed to think bigger.

The 23-year-old, who stayed with a professional for one week as part of the initiative, said: "I live in Oxford, which is not as far away from London as many other people are, and even for me coming to London for a two-week work experience placement was hard.

"If you don't know anyone who lives in London, your choices are to pay to live in a hostel and share a dorm with strangers as you work or commute, which is not feasible for the majority of people.

"If [PRH UK] is serious about the diversity they keep going on about, we'll see a future where publishers aren't all in London."

Writing on its LinkedIn page, PRH UK issued a call to arms for at least 50 new industry professionals to sign up as hosts.

The project is claimed to have helped more than 70 interns find free accommodation in London already.

The ABC contacted PRH UK for comment.