Information » Employment & Training » Starting work » What age can I start work
- You can-not work fulltime until you are no longer of compulsory school age. A person ceases to be of school age on the official school leaving date. This is the last Friday in June of the school year in which you reach 16.
- However, many young people who are still at school work in their spare time to earn some money. The most popular jobs are paper rounds or working part-time in shops.
- There are strict regulations covering the hours you can work, the type of work you can do and the minimum age you can work.
- Unfortunately there are too many cases where young people of school age have been illegally employed or exploited.
- Some young people work for very low wages or very long hours. This in turn can affect their studies, home life and their health and safety.
Starting work - what does the law say?
- To prevent abuses and exploitation of young people at work the basic conditions of employment for young people of school age are regulated by law.
- The main piece of law is the Children and Young Person's Act 1933.
- The legislation affects all young people of school age. A person ceases to be of school age on the school leaving date. (This is the last Friday in June). This is in the school year in which you reach 16.
- The 1933 Act gives local authorities the power to make bye-laws which further restrict the hours and conditions of work and the type of jobs young people are allowed to do. These by-laws may differ slightly from area to area, particularly in relation to the types of jobs young people are allowed to do.
- Normally you may not work if you are under 14 but 13 year olds may be able to do work which is approved by local authority by-laws. You may only do what is called 'occaisional light work'. This includes:
- agricultural work
- newspaper delivery
- work in a shop, café, salon, office
- domestic work in hotels
- work in riding stables
- car washing by hand in a residential setting
- Young people between 14 years old and school leaving age are not allowed to work in the following:
- commercial kitchens
- in cinemas, fairgrounds, arcades, theatres, pubs, discos and night clubs
- in butchers and slaughterhouses
- factories, mines, construction, manufacturing, quarries
- collecting money door to door
- selling or delivering milk, alcohol, fuel, oils
- refuse collection
- work involving exposure to adult materials
- sales work at heights over 3m e.g. window cleaning
- personal care e.g. residential homes unless under adult supervision
- handling dangerous loads, cleaning machinery, exposure to chemicals
- street trading (working on market stalls) is only permitted for those aged 14 or over provided they are employed by their parents and have a licence from the local authority
- any work at night.
You must not work:
- before 7am and after 7pm
- during school hours
- more than two hours on a school day
- more than one hour before school starts
- more than two hours on a Sunday.
- if you are under 15, you may not work for more than 5 hours on a Saturday or on any day during the school holidays
- if you are 15 or over, you may not work for more than 8 hours on a Saturday or on any day during the school holidays
- you must have a two week break from work during a period in the year when you are not required to attend school
- there is a statutory rest break of one hour for young people who work for 4 hours or more.
- Young people who are paid to take part in sport, or work as a model are covered by the special licensing provisions which currently cover young people in entertainment.
- All by-laws require employers who wish to employ young people of school age to register with the local education authority and apply for a work permit for the young person.
- If you are under 16 you do not have to pay national insurance contributions and you will not have to pay income tax unless you earn over £4,195 a year.
- When you are no longer of compulsory school age, you can work full time.
