This year I only managed to find two paid jobs and they were both temporary jobs: I counted votes for the council elections on the night of the AV referendum and I completed surveys about people's opinions about a pub. I got paid £15 per hour to count votes because you have to stay up into the early hours of the morning counting the votes and they have trouble finding people to do this, so I definitely recommend doing this job if it comes up.
Nevertheless, I don't recommend working for companies, that ask you to complete surveys because I had so much trouble getting the company to pay me. I didn't fill out all of the surveys because I couldn't find enough people to ask in the time slots allocated for the surveys and they didn't say I had to fill out all the questionnaires, so at first they refused to pay me because they said that I hadn't done the job properly. They also said that I'd been rude to people, when I was filling out the surveys because some people had complained that I'd asked them, which age range they came under, even though they'd asked me to ask them those questions and they tried to use this fact as another reason to not pay me. It took me months to get this company to pay me and eventually I had to accept half the amount of money, they originally said they'd pay me, because it costs money and takes months to take it to a small claims court. I later discovered that a lot of companies, who employ people to carry out surveys, try to not pay you, if you didn't do the job properly, so please don't make my mistake.
Apart from having pocket money and the Job Seeker's Allowance, which I used to pay for Latin lessons, my other income came from doing online surveys. I admit that it doesn't bring in a great amount of income but I've earned about £90 in vouchers this year from doing these surveys. The advantages are that it's flexible and anyone can do them but the disadvantage is that there are so many questions, which they will ask you time and time again, so it can be tedious in that regard. In any case I thought I'd recommend some survey sites to any of you, who are interested in making some money in this way but do beware that most survey sites pay you with vouchers.
1. http://uk.toluna.com/ - Toluna offer some very quick polls as well as long and short surveys, which you can get points for, so it's quite easy to earn points with Toluna. In any case it still takes a good 3 months to get enough points to request a voucher.
2. http://uk.mysurvey.com/ - The MySurvey panel offer you the chance to convert your points into many different vouchers and many other rewards. They also give you points for trying to participate in the survey, if they decide you're not a suitable candidate for the survey.
3. http://www.iap-interactive.com/default.aspx?language=en-GB - Ipsos Access Panels offer you the chance to convert your points into a fair range of vouchers or indeed donations to some charities but they don't offer the same range of ways in which to convert your points as the MySurvey panel. They also give you points for attempting to participate in the survey, if you're not a suitable candidate for the survey.
4. www.onepoll.com - OnePoll give you short surveys to complete. You usually get something between £0.05 - £0.20 for each survey you manage to complete but you can also get vouchers, which allow you to be entered into prize draws. They offer you the chance to do surveys on almost every day of the working week. They give you £40, when you have completed enough surveys to earn this amount. Although I started a year ago, I haven't quite got my £40 but I'm less than £5 away from earning it!
5. http://www.opinionpanel.co.uk/future/ - The future panel is a panel, which seeks the opinion of young people, who are in higher education or planning to go on to further education. Because there is a low supply of these sorts of people they offer you a £1 Bonus Bond voucher for each survey you complete, so I recommend joining this panel, if you fit the criteria.
6. http://www.opinionworld.co.uk/ow/index.aspx?filterid=2078&chapterid=1075 - OpinionWorld offer you a fair range of vouchers and charitable donations, when you receive enough points to earn a reward but they don't give you points for trying to complete a survey, if they decide you don't fit the criteria wanted for a particular survey.
I've had rewards from all of the above apart from OnePoll but as I said before, I will soon receive a reward from them. In any case I hope this helps you! Please feel free to ask me any questions about taking a gap year, if you feel I have the relevant experience to answer your question.
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