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<p>Minimum wage legislation prohibits unpaid work trials that are excessive and not
part of a genuine recruitment process. An unpaid trial work period lasting a few hours
may be reasonable and legal. This is because the main purpose would be to test the
individual, and what is done would probably have little or no other value to the employer.
However, an unpaid trial lasting more than one day is probably illegal in all but
exceptional circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>DBT does not hold information about the number
of people who have undertaken unpaid trial shifts in England, Wales and Scotland in
each of the last five years.</p><p> </p><p>If someone has undertaken an unpaid work
trial and thinks they should have been paid NMW, they can call the ACAS helpline or
make a complaint to HMRC.</p>
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