Teenagers with paid work
Children aged 13 and over can work on weekends, holidays, or outside of school hours. There are legal restrictions on hours and types of work they can do. This includes children working in family businesses.
Children must not work:
- more than 12 hours a week in term time
- continually for more than 4 hours without 1 hour’s rest
- before 7am or after 7pm
- more than 2 hours on a Sunday
These are some examples of the types of work children of school age can be employed to do:
- Work in shops including on tills
- Shelf stacking
- Delivering newspapers, journals and leaflets
- Office work
- Serving at a table in a café or restaurant
- Car washing by hand
- Light agricultural/horticultural work
- Working in a riding stable
- Shampooing/sweeping up in a hairdressers
- Working in hotels
- Jobs in entertainment
This is not a complete list.
These are some examples of work children of school age cannot be employed to do:
- Work in any commercial kitchen area such as a café, pub, hotel, restaurant or fish and chip shop
- Serve alcoholic drinks in pubs, clubs or restaurants
- Work in cinemas, discos, nightclubs or theatres
- Work in a factory or industrial undertaking
- Undertake scaffolding, building work or garage work
- where gambling takes place
- Work in milk delivery or butchers shops
- Telephone sales
- Serve petrol/fuel/oil, or handle any dangerous biological or chemical substances
- Collect money, selling or canvassing door to door or in street trading
- Lift heavy objects
This is not a complete list.
If you are an employer, you need a work permit:
Employers are responsible for ensuring that each child:
- Carries a work permit
- Works only the hours stated on the work permit
- Carries out only the employment stated on the work permit
- Has adequate and appropriate clothing for the work to be undertaken
- Is in a good state of health for the work they are undertaking
The employer is also responsible for carrying out a risk assessment.
To employ a child under 16, you must notify the child employment officer by completing the ESCC forms below. The parent or carer must also sign the form.
- County Council notification by employer form [89.0 KB] [doc], and a copy of your company child protection policy and risk assessment.
- If you have any problems accessing or completing the forms, contact us (details listed below).
The child employment officer will reply within 10 working days of receiving the form. They will confirm whether the child is legally able to work. If so, they will receive a work permit.
Work Experience
Work experience is a part of the education curriculum and is governed by education legislature which is very different from child employment legislation, both in the work a child is allowed to do and the hours they are permitted to work.
Who to contact at East Sussex County Council:
- Email: Child Employment team
- Telephone: 01273 481 967