MI5 and GCHQ open 2027 summer internship applications: Pay, dates, and who can apply
Key Points
- MI5 and GCHQ have opened applications for 2027 Summer Intelligence Internships.
- MI5 pays £4,849 in London and GCHQ up to £5,530 in Cheltenham.
- MI5 runs from 28 June to 20 August 2027; GCHQ offers three possible periods.
- Applications are limited to penultimate and final-year students meeting both eligibility criteria.
- Interns can apply for employment at the end of the placement.
MI5 and GCHQ have opened applications for their 2027 Summer Intelligence Internships, paying £4,849 in London and up to £5,530 in Cheltenham.
Candidates can apply to only one of the two agencies, and both placements run across the 2027 university summer break.
MI5 expects its internship to run from 28 June to 20 August 2027, and described those dates as indicative and subject to change.
GCHQ has set out three possible periods for its own placement, each subject to confirmation:
- Monday 21 June to Friday 27 August 2027
- Monday 28 June to Friday 3 September 2027
- Monday 5 July to Friday 3 September 2027
Pay and accommodation
MI5 pays a flat internship payment of £4,849 for the London placement, while GCHQ pays up to £5,530 in Cheltenham depending on how long the placement lasts.
Interns also receive paid leave during the placement period, amounting to up to four days at MI5 and up to four or five days at GCHQ.
Both agencies provide free accommodation for successful candidates who do not live within a reasonable commuting distance of the site.
Who can apply?
MI5 has confined applications for the 2026/27 academic year to students in their penultimate or final year of university who come from a Black, Asian, mixed-heritage or ethnic minority background and from a socially or economically disadvantaged background.
The agency said it has limited the intake to that group because of a current underrepresentation in its workforce.
Everyone involved with either agency must pass the security clearance process the services call vetting, which requires information about the applicant and their family.
What do the placements involve?
MI5 places interns in an investigative team working on international terrorism, where they sit alongside intelligence officers, piece together intelligence and build a picture of possible threats.
GCHQ places interns in an intelligence mission team with access to case studies and briefings from operational intelligence teams, and states that applicants do not need a technical background.
Interns at both agencies can apply for employment once the placement ends, including a route into MI5’s Intelligence Officer Development Programme, and both applications run through a competitive selection process.
