Employer's Terms & Conditions - Little Local Jobs

Employer’s terms, conditions and responsibilities

Children of compulsory school age may only work if they are over 13 years of age and have a work permit issued by the Local Authority and can only work full time once they have officially left school (last Friday in June in Year 11).

It is the responsibility of the employer to register all school age children working for them, and to carry out a risk assessment.

As well as employment in its normal meaning, the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 states that a person who assists in a trade or occupation carried on for profit is considered as employed even though he or she may receive no payment.

So the rules in the Children and Young Persons Act will apply where, for example, children help their parents in a shop without receiving any payment. The actual words used in the Act are a “person who assists in a trade or occupation carried on for profit”.

In today’s circumstances the Local Authority considers that any occupation where the aim is to make a surplus would be considered as a trade or occupation carried on for profit so, in Lincolnshire County Council’s view, unpaid work at a charity shop would count as employment, but not, for example, unpaid work at a youth club.

To register a child for employment, please complete the ‘Child Employment Permit Application Form’ available to apply for at your local council.

Prohibited Employment

No child of any age may be employed:

in a cinema, theatre, discotheque, dance hall or night club, except in connection with a performance given entirely by children. This does not prevent children taking part in performances under the provisions of a licence granted in accordance with the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 and the associated Regulations;
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 meters above ground level or, in the case of internal work, more than three meters above floor level;
in employment involving harmful exposure to physical, biological or chemical agents;
to collect money or to sell or canvass door to door, except under supervision of an adult;
in work involving exposure to adult material or in situations which are for the reason otherwise unsuitable for children;
in telephone sales;
in any slaughterhouse or in that part of butcher’s shop or other premises connected with the killing of livestock, butchery, or in the preparation carcasses or meat for sale;
as an attendant or assistant in a fairground by means of automatic machines, games or chance or skills or similar devices;
in the personal care of residents of any residential care home or nursing home unless under the supervision of a responsible adult.

A child aged 14 and over may be employed only in light work.

A child ages 13 may not be employed except in light work in one or more of the following specified categories:

agricultural or horticultural work on an occasional basis and under the direct supervision of their parent;
delivery or newspapers, journals and other printed material and collecting payment for same subject to the Prohibited Employment (above)
shop work, including shelf stacking;
hairdressing salons;
office work;
car washing by hand in a private residential setting;
in a cafe or restaurant;
in riding stable domestic work in hotels and other establishments offering accommodation.

Hours of employment

Children cannot work before 7am and after 7pm. There must also be a two week period free from work during the school summer holiday,
Subject to other provisions of these bylaws, children may be employed for up to one hour before the commencement of school hours on any day on which they are required to attend.

The employment shall be so arranged the where a child is employed for a period of more than four hours in any day they shall be free for rest and recreation for a continuous period of not less than one hour.

Additional Condition: no child may be employed in any work outdoors unless wearing suitable clothes and shoes.

Notification of employment and employment permits

Within one week of employing a child, the employer must send to the Authority written notification stating:

his own name and address;
the name, address and date of birth of the child; the hours and days on which the child is to be employed, the occupation in which the child is to be employed, details of the tasks involved and, if different from employer’s initially stated address, the placement of employment;
a statement of the child’s fitness to work, and approval for the child to be employed, completed by the child’s parent;
details of the school at which the child is a registered pupil; and
a statement to the effect that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out by the employer.

Where, on recent of a notification, the local authority is satisfied that:

the proposed employment is lawful;
the child’s health, welfare and ability to take full advantage of his education would not be jeopardised; and
the child is fit to undertake the work for which he is to be employed,
it will issue the child with an employment permit.

Before issuing an employment permit the local authority may require the child to have a medical examination.

The employment permit will state:

the name, address and date of births of the child; and
the hours and days on which the child is to be employed, the occupation in which the child is to be employed, details of the task involved and the place of employment.

A child may be employed only in accordance with the details shown on his employment permit. A local authority may amend a child’s employment permit from time to time on the application of an employer.

The lack authority may at any time revoke a child’s employment permit if it has reasonable grounds to believe:

that the child is being unlawfully employed; or
that his health, welfare or ability to take full advantage of his education are suffering or likely to suffer as a result of the employment.

A child must produce his employment permit for inspection when required to do so by an authorised officer of the authority or a police officer.

Street Trading

No child under the age of 14 may engage in street trading and a child aged 14 or over may not engage in street trading unless:

be is employed to do so by his parent, in connection with their retail business and under their direct supervision; and
he has been granted a licence to do so (‘a street trade’s licence’) by the authority and is acting in compliance with the terms of that licence.

The authority shall not grant a street trader’s licence to any child if it has reason to believe that the employment of the child in the street trading would be prejudicial to his health, welfare and ability to take full advantage of his education or the child’s street trade licence has been previously revoked.

A street trade’s licence shall prohibit the holder from engaging in street trading on a Sunday and shall:

be valid for not more than 12 months and shall expire on 31 December;
prohibit the holder from touting or importuning to the annoyance or obstruction of any member of the public in any street or public places; and
require that the child notify the authority within one week of any change of address.

The authority may suspend or revoke a street trade’s license if it has reason to believe that the holder’s continued employment in street trading would be beneficial to his health, welfare, or ability to take full advantage of his education, or if the holder:

is found guilty of any offence connected to street trading;
commits any breach of these Bylaws or the terms of his street trader’s licence;
uses the licence as a means for begging, immortality or any other improper purpose; or
fails to notify the authority within one week of any change of address.

Revocation

The bylaws hereinafter listed hereby repealed so far as they relate to administrative area of the County Council:

Lincolnshire county council “Bylaws with respect to Employment of Children” confirmed by the Secretary of state Social Services on 25 October 1977 which came into force on 1 December 1977.