Child Employment Permit

Child employment permit

A child or young person not over compulsory school age who helps in a business (including his or her parents' business), whether for payment or not, is considered to be employed.

Employed children are legally required to have a permit issued by the local authority in which the child or young person works.

There are legal restrictions on the age at which children and young people can start work, the type of work they are allowed to do and their working times and hours.

It is against the law for:

any child under 13 years of age to work
a child aged 13 (but still of compulsory school age) to work without an employment permit
a child to work in a type of employment prohibited by law e.g. local authority byelaws.

Apply for a permit

If you wish to apply for a child employment permit, please email us to request an application form.

Maximum hours per day a child can work

Children can only work a set amount of hours. It depends on what day of the week it is and whether it is during school term or not.

Children are not allowed to work before 7am, after 7pm, or during the school day.

Type of day	Age 13 -14	Age 15+
Saturday	5 hours	8 hours
Sunday	2 hours	2 hours
School day	2 hours per day - either 1 hour before school and 1 hour after school or 2 hours after school	2 hours per day - either 1 hour before school and 1 hour after school or 2 hours after school
School holiday	5 hours a day (except Sunday)	8 hours a day (except Sunday)
Term time	12 hours	12 hours
School holiday	25 hours	35 hours

Children must have:

a break of at least 1 hour after 4 hours work
a 2 week break from work during the school holidays.

Work children can do

agricultural or horticultural work
newspaper and printed material delivery including collecting money
shop work including shelf stacking
hairdressing salons
office work
riding stables
waitressing
domestic work in hotels and other buildings offering accommodation.
Babysitting for friends and neighbours is not classed as 'employment'.

Work children can not do

delivering fuel oils
street trading
pub and bar work
cleaning/operating machinery
collecting money or selling/canvassing door to door unless there is adult supervision
delivery of milk
collecting or sorting refuse
sale of alcohol, except in sealed containers
work in a slaughterhouse, or in the preparation of meat or fish for sale
telephone sales
activities connected with the use of firearms
personal care of residents in care homes unless there is adult supervision
any work which is more than 3 metres above ground level
anything involving harmful exposure to physical, biological or chemical agents
work involving exposure to adult material or in situations which are for this reason unsuitable for children
commercial kitchens
fairground and amusement arcades
building sites
gambling clubs
work in a cinema, theatre, discotheque, dance hall or nightclub, except in connection with performance given entirely by children
markets (unless employed and directly supervised by a child's parent in connection with their retail business).