13m Watch XFactor Amidst Claims Of 'Underpaid' Staff

It has been announced that 13 million viewers watched ITV's Xfactor final last night, down four million viewers since last year – leaving ratings at 2007 lows.
This news comes at time when BECTU, the Media and Entertainment Union, have launched an investigation into claims that the multi-million pound earning X Factor is illegally using unpaid interns.
According to the Union's website they were alerted to the claims last week via posts on Twitter which originated with the graduate employment campaign website, Graduate Fog.
The claims, supported by evidence gathered by Graduate Fog from teams, which work, on the prime time show, were referred to the HMRC, the authority with responsibility for enforcing the national minimum wage.
BECTU is currently working with the HMRC on a targeted enforcement campaign to challenge non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage Act in the film, tv, live entertainment.
The HMRC has confirmed that it has received the information gathered by Graduate Fog which points to staff employed as fashion assistants on X Factor who are engaged for three months to work full time, often over long hours, on an expenses-only basis. Graduate Fog was itself alerted to the issue by an article penned by Daily Mail columnist, Liz Jones.
These types of expenses-only engagements are often illegal.
The ITV1 show, which was won by girl group Little Mix, averaged 12.9 million viewers, a 44% share, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. The average number of viewers rises to 13.1 million when ITV1+1 is included.
The audience was dramatically down on the 17.2 million who watched Matt Cardle win last year's final.
(LB)