Pret A Manger scraps 'sandwiches-for-work' internship

Pret A Manger has scrapped its plan to offer free sandwiches to teenagers in exchange for unpaid work experience.

The sandwich chain had planned to take on 500 16 to 18-year-olds for week-long internships over the summer holidays.

It is not clear what expenses, if any, were to be paid by the chain which enjoyed sales of £676.2 million in 2015.

Successful applicants were promised free food in return for their time.

But after being criticised heavily on social media - with some dubbing it "slave labour", the company said it would pay its interns.

Clive Schlee, Pret A Manger CEO, said: “Pret’s Work Experience Week is not about making sandwiches for free.

"We set it up so that 16 to 18-year-olds can shadow our teams and get a flavour for what working at Pret is like.

"We’ve seen how passionately people feel about the initiative, and in response I would like to confirm that we will pay all participants Pret’s starting hourly rate and of course provide free food as well.”

In a bid to plug the potential gap in employment when Britain leaves the EU, Pret launched the new initiative for participants to "get exposure to aspects of our business including food production, customer service, social responsibility and financial control".

The minimum wage for the under-18s is £4 an hour. It is £5.55 for 18- to 20-year-olds and £7.20 for the over-25s.

Pret said it hoped to offer permanent roles to anyone who wished to apply after their experience week and would stay in touch with those who wanted to remain in education and apply at a later stage.

The company will be promoting the Big Experience Week through a network of schools with which it already works on a school leavers programme. It will also run a social media campaign.