There is much legislation regarding the treatment of young people in employment. Regulation in this area is designed to protect the young employee, who is generally less experienced in issues which arise from being employed.
This article is essential reading if you are an employer who currently hires, or is thinking about hiring, young people.
Introduction
Employing younger staff obviously has its benefits – their hourly wage is less, plus, they can be compared to blank canvases – unvarnished – therefore your authority is less likely to be questioned. However, these are not issues to be taken lightly. Hiring younger employees comes with associated risks.
The UK has long had a complex web of national laws and local bye-laws regulating the employment of children.
In May 2004, child employment was radically changed. The fundamental change was that employers should register with their local authority as an employer of school-age children, rather than applying for a permit for each child employee.
The HSE publication "Keep Children Safe on the Farm" states that in the ten years to 2000 as many as 44 children died in agricultural accidents, half of them aged under five. It is for this reason that the laws relating to employing children in all areas of employment, should be strictly adhered to.
Important definitions
Compulsory school age
Starts at five and ends at sixteen. The person ceases to be a child once over the compulsory school age.
Child
Any person who is not over compulsory school age is deemed a child.
Young worker
A "young worker" is someone aged between 15 and 18 who is over compulsory school age.
Health and safety
The UK has long had a complex web of national laws and local bye-laws regulating the employment of children.
As an employer of young people, you have a strict duty on you to "ensure that young persons employed by him are protected at work from any risks to their health or safety which are a consequence of their lack of experience, or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks or the fact that young persons have not yet fully matured"
There are relaxations on the definition of “young worker” if the young person is over compulsory school age and is supervised by a competent person.
Since August 1998 a child cannot be employed in any wok before the age of 14. Prior to 1998, the age was 13. This excludes children employed by their parent /guardians or in light agricultural or horticultural work on occasions.
Industrial employment
It is a criminal offence to employ any child in an industrial undertaking.
Children in agriculture
The latest regulations which revoke other similar regulations prohibit a child to ride on certain classes of vehicle or machine used in an agricultural operation.
There have been newspaper reports suggesting that these rules may be tightened due to the stricter laws laid down in the convention of the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Permitted working times:
No child shall be employed during school hours;
No child under the age of 13, shall be employed in any occupation (except public performances - please see link on the left for Performance Licences for Children for further information);
Children must have at least 2 weeks in a year, during School closures, during which they shall not work;
Maximum of 2 hours on a Sunday;
No child may commence work before 7:00 am;
No child may work after 7:00 pm.
Permitted Working Times – Schooldays:
Maximum of 2 hours on a school day;
Maximum of 12 hours in any school week;
Maximum of 1 hours work prior to starting school.
Permitted Working Times - Weekends and Holidays:
Child aged 13 - 14, maximum of 5 hours per day (excluding schooldays and Sundays) with a maximum of 25 hours in a non school week (any period of 7 consecutive days);
Child aged 15 - 16, maximum of 8 hours per day (excluding schooldays and Sundays) with a maximum of 35 hours in a non school week (any period of 7 consecutive days);
All children, if working for a continuous period of 4 hours, must have a break of at least one hour.
Permitted Employment
Children - Aged 13:
Agricultural or horticultural work;
Delivery of newspapers, magazines, leaflets;
Shop work, including shelf stacking;
Hairdressing salons;
Office work (but not in an office attached to a factory);
Car washing by hand in a private residential setting;
In a cafe or restaurant (but not in a commercial kitchen);
In riding stables;
Domestic work in hotels or other establishments offering accommodation.
Children - Aged 14 and above
Light work only, (work which, on account of inherent nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions under which they are performed is not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of children, and is not such as harmful to their attendance at school or to their participation in work experience in accordance with Section 560 of the Education Act 1996, or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received, or as the case may be, the experience gained.
Prohibited Employment:
No child of any age may be employed;
Without the appropriate permit;
In a cinema, discotheque, dance hall or night-club, except in connection with a performance given entirely be children;
To sell or deliver alcohol, except in sealed containers;
To deliver milk;
To deliver fuel oils;
In a commercial kitchen;
To collect or sort refuse;
In any work which is more than three metres above ground level or, in the case of internal work, more than three metres above floor level;
In employment involving harmful exposure to physical, biological or chemical agents;
To collect money or to sell canvas door to door, except under the supervision of an adult;
In work involving exposure to adult material or in situations which are for this reason otherwise unsuitable for children;
In telephone sales;
In any slaughterhouse or in part of any butcher's shop connected with the killing of livestock, butchery or the preparation of carcasses or meat for sale;
As an attendant or assistant in a fairground or amusement arcade or in any other premises used for the purpose of public amusement by means of automatic machines, games of chance or skill or similar devices;
In the personal care of residents of any residential care home or nursing home.
Protection of Children Act
Protection of Children Act 1999 ("POCA"), as amended by the Care Standards Act 2000, is designed to create a cross-sector system for identifying people unsuitable to work with children and to provide a "one stop shop" to compel or allow employers to access a single point for checking the names of people they propose to employ in a post involving the care of children, through the gateway of the Criminal Records Bureau.
The Act requires the Secretary of State to "keep a list of individuals who are considered unsuitable to work with children" - commonly called the "POCA" list. The Act extends to England and Wales. Under the Act, Local and Health authorities, NHS and Primary Care Trusts, and other regulated childcare organisations are obliged to check employees (whether paid or voluntary) against the list. The Scottish Executive has similar proposals (under which it will be a criminal offence for those on the Scottish version of the index, as well as those convicted of serious offences against children, to work with children and under which employers will notify the Executive of people they judge should be considered for inclusion on the index, and consult it when considering offering employment in a position working with children.
The four main changes made by the Act are:
To arrangements for the DHSS "Consultancy Index List" of people considered unsuitable to work with children;
To arrangements for the DfEE "List 99" of people considered unsuitable to be teachers;
To enable the new Criminal Records Bureau to disclose information about people who are included on either list along with their criminal records;
To require child care organisations to make checks of the above before employing child carers. Child care organisations affected are those whose "activities are regulated by or by virtue of an enactment prescribed by the Secretary of State" - as to which see the Protection of Children (Child Care Organisations) Regulations 2000, SI 2000/2432.
The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, relevant parts of which came into force on 11th January 2001, gives the courts power to make orders disqualifying persons who are convicted of serious offences from working with children.
Street trading
It is unlawful for a child to engage or be employed in street trading, subject to any local education authority bye-laws which can allow children of 14+ to be employed in street trading by their parents.
Time off work for study
16 and 17 year old employees are allowed to have paid time off for study if while at school they had not reached a prescribed "standard of achievement". The Employment Rights (Time off for Study or Training) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998/1761 makes similar provision in Northern Ireland.
New Right to Time Off for Study or Training Regulations 2001, SI 2001/2801 were made on 31st July 2001 and came into force on 1st September 2001. They list the institutions whose diplomas etc count towards the prescribed standard of achievement and provide other details about those standards. They update, revoke and replace similar regulations which had been in force since 1st September 1999.
Vetting job applicants
With a view to preventing unsuitable people being employed in child care and teaching jobs, the DTI and the Department of Health maintain two informal lists of names known respectively as "List 99" and the "Consultancy Service Index". The Consultancy Service Index contains information on child carers and List 99 holds details of people barred from or restricted in work with schools, further education and the youth service.
The Home Secretary has power to order that a person shall not work with children in a wide variety of circumstances. There is an automatic prohibition of persons convicted of specified offences.
The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, relevant parts of which came into force on 11th January 2001, gives the courts power to make orders disqualifying persons who are convicted of serious offences from working with children.
Working time over 15
The Working Time Regulations 1998 SI 1998/1833 include special provisions in respect of young workers (basically those aged between 15 and 18 who are above compulsory school age). The special provisions for young workers relate to:
Maximum working hours;
Night work;
Rest breaks;
Emergency situations (WT rags 1998, reg 27).
Working time under 15:
At the age of fourteen, but no younger, a child may be employed in any work;
When under fourteen, he or she can be an employee of his parent or guardian in light agricultural or horticultural work on an occasional basis;
Special rules govern public performances by children.
If by chance you find some error of law or fact in any Net Lawman information page, do please tell us. We should also welcome your suggestions for new subjects for information pages. These notes:
Do not provide a complete or authoritative statement of the law;
Do not constitute legal advice by Net Lawman;
Do not create a contractual relationship;
Do not form part of any other advice, whether paid or free.
