Staff from the County Council’s Education Welfare Service will join colleagues from across the South East for a campaign across the region which will also involve shopping centre information displays to raise awareness of the law amongst members of the public.
Giving out information to parents and young people, officers will be in the Arndale Shopping Centre, Eastbourne on Monday 28 July and then Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, Hastings on Tuesday 29 July.
They will be giving advice to parents, teenagers and employers regarding how to stay safe and legal at work.
Then, on Wednesday 30 July officers will be visiting employers across the county to remind them of their responsibilities when employing young people of school age and to check for any illegal employment.
Last summer more than 120 businesses in the county were paid a visit by County Council welfare officers checking up on child employment in the area. A total of 44 children were found to be working illegally – in most cases without the necessary work permit. In these cases the employers were informed of the need in law for a child to have the necessary employment card.
Councillor David Elkin, the County Council’s Lead Cabinet Member for Learning and School Effectiveness said: “We fully understand why teenagers want to work to earn a bit of extra pocket money and we’re certainly not trying to stop them from doing so.
“However it’s vitally important that all our employers understand the law and keep to it to ensure that young people are safe at work and that they are working within the law. We just want to make sure that young people, if they do work, are not exploited and that their school work and education doesn’t suffer. My own personal experience as an employer in the past is that I have found the team’s advice very helpful.”
Child Employment Officers want to check where children are working, when, and what hours they are doing. They will follow up to check that Employment Cards have been issued and will investigate any infringements of the legislation.
For more information on the law as laid out in the Children and Young Persons Act, including guides from the County Council for employers and for young people, people can visit our pages about children at work.
Reference:
2056
Contact the press team
