Child Employment Byelaws

Byelaws with respect to the employment of children

April 1999

Paul Boyce, Director of Children's Services

Wirral Borough Council, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 18(2) and 20(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 19331, hereby makes the following Byelaws:

Citation and commencement

1. These Byelaws may be cited as the Wirral Borough Council Byelaws on the Employment of Children (1998) and shall come into force on 13 April 1999.

Interpretation and extent

2. In these Byelaws, unless the context otherwise requires:

“the authority” means Wirral Borough Council;
“child” means a person who is not yet over compulsory school age as defined in section 8 of the Education Act 1996.
“employment” includes assistance in any trade or occupation which is carried on for profit, whether or not payment is received for that assistance;
“light work” means work which, on account of the inherent nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions under which they are performed -

(a) is not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of
children;
(b) is not such as to be harmful to their attendance at school, their
participation in work experience in accordance with section 560 of
the Education Act 1996, or their capacity to benefit from the
instruction received or, as the case may be, the experience gained.

“parent” includes any person who has for the time being parental responsibility for a child within the meaning of section 3 of the Children Act 1989.
“public place” includes any public park, garden, sea beach or railway station and any ground to which the public for the time being have or are permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise;
“street” includes any highway and any public bridge, road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not;
“street trading” includes the hawking of newspapers, matches, flowers and other articles, playing, singing or performing for profit, shoe blacking and other like occupations carried on in any street or public place;
“year” except in expression of age, means a period of twelve months beginning with 1st January.

Prohibited Employment

3. No child of any age may be employed:

No child of any age may be employed -

(a) 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);
(b) to sell or deliver alcohol, except in sealed containers;
(c) to deliver milk;
(d) to deliver fuel oils;
(e) in a commercial kitchen;
(f) to collect or sort refuse;
(g) in any work which is more than three metres above ground level or, in
the case of internal work, more than three metres above floor level;
(h) in employment involving harmful exposure to physical, biological or
chemical agents;
(i) to collect money or to sell or canvass door to door, except under the
supervision of an adult;
(j) in work involving exposure to adult material or in situations which are for this reason otherwise unsuitable for children;
(k) in telephone sales;
(l) in any slaughterhouse or in that part of any butcher’s shop or other
premises connected with the killing of livestock, butchery, or the
preparation of carcasses or meat for sale;
(m) as an attendant or assistant in a fairground or amusement arcade or in any other premises used for the purpose of public amusement by means of automatic machines, games of chance or skill or similar devices.
(n) in the personal care of residents of any residential care home or nursing home unless under the supervision of a responsible adult.

Permitted employment of children aged 14 and over

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

Permitted employment of children aged 13

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

(a) agricultural or horticultural work;
(b) delivery of newspapers, journals and other printed material, and
collecting payment for same, subject to the provision of byelaw 3(i)
(c) shop work, including shelf stacking;
(d) hairdressing salons;
(e) office work;
(f) car washing by hand in a private residential setting;
(g) in a cafe or restaurant;
(h) in riding stables; and
(i) domestic work in hotels and other establishments offering
accommodation.

Permitted employment of children under 13

6. [Repealed] by Section 18(2)(a)(i) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 as amended by the Children Protection at Work Regulations 2000.

Employment before school

7. Subject to the other provisions of these byelaws, 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 school.

Additional condition

8. No child may be employed in any work out of doors unless wearing suitable clothes and shoes.

Notification of Employment and employment permits

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

(a) his own name and address;
(b) the name, address and date of birth of the child;
(c) 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, if different from (a) above, the place of employment;
(d) a statement of the child’s fitness to work, and of approval from the child to be employed, completed by the child’s parent;
(e) details of the school at which the child is a registered pupil; and
(f) a statement to the effect that an appropriate risk assessment has been carried out by the employer.

10. Where, on receipt of a notification, the local authority is satisfied that:

(a) the proposed employment is lawful;
(b) the child’s health, welfare or ability to take full advantage of his
education would not be jeopardised; and
(c) the child is fit to undertake the work for which he is to be employed.

it will issue the child with an employment permit.

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

12. The employment permit will state:

(a) the name, address and date of birth of the child;
(b) 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.

13. A child may be employed only in accordance with the details shown on his employment permit.

14. A local authority may amend a child’s employment permit from time to time on the application of an employer.

15. The local authority may at any time revoke a child’s employment permit if it has reasonable grounds to believe -

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

16. 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

17. 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:

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

18. 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 street trading would be prejudicial to his health, welfare or ability to take full advantage of his education or the child’s street trader’s licence has previously been revoked.

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

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

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

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

Revocation

21. The Byelaws with respect to the employment of children made by Wirral Borough Council on 30th day of June 1982 and confirmed by the Secretary of State on the 16th day of September 1982 are hereby revoked.

THE COMMON SEAL of WIRRAL BOROUGH COUNCIL was affixed to these Byelaws on 10 December 1998 in the presence of:

PG MANSON LLB
Borough Solicitor and Secretary

NUMBER IN SEAL BOOK - 34818

These Byelaws are hereby confirmed by the Secretary of State for Health
on 13 April 1999 and shall come into operation on 13 April 1999.

Signed: Tom Jeffery
A Senior Civil Servant on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health

Section 18 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933

1. Subject to the provisions of this section and of any byelaws made thereunder no child shall be employed:

(a) so long as he is under the age of fourteen years;
(aa) to do any work other than light work;
(b) before the close of school hours on any day on which he is required to
attend school; or
(c) before seven o’clock in the morning or after seven o’clock in the evening on any day; or
(d) for more than two hours on any day on which he is required to attend
school; or
(da) for more than 12 hours in any week in which he is required to attend
school, or
(e) for more than two hours on any Sunday; or
(f) [repealed]
(g) for more than eight hours or, if he is under the age of fifteen years, for
more than five hours in any day
(i) on which he is not required to attend school, and
(ii) which is not a Sunday; or
(h) for more than thirty five hours or, if he is under the age of fifteen years, for more than twenty-five hours in any week in which he is not required to attend school; or
(i) for more than four hours in any day without a rest break of one hour, or
(j) at any time in a year unless at that time he has had, or could still have,
during a period in the year in which he is not required to attend school,
at least two consecutive weeks without employment.

2. A local authority may make byelaws with respect to the employment of
children, and any such byelaws may distinguish between children of different ages and sexes and between different localities, trades, occupations and circumstances, and may contain provisions:

(a) authorising -

(i) the employment on an occasional basis of children aged thirteen
years (notwithstanding anything in paragraph (a) of the last
foregoing subsection) by their parents or guardians in light
agricultural work;
(ia) the employment of children aged thirteen years (notwithstanding
anything in paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection) in
categories of light work specified in the byelaw;
(ii) the employment of children (notwithstanding anything in
paragraph (b) of the last foregoing subsection) for not more than
one hour before the commencement of school hours on any day
on which they are required to attend school;

(b) prohibiting absolutely the employment of children in any specified
occupation;

(i) the age below which children are not to be employed;
(ii) the numbers of hours in each day, or in each week, for which, and
the time of a day at which, they may be employed;
(iii) the intervals to be allowed to them for meals and rest;
(iv) the holidays or half-holidays to be allowed to them;
(v) any other conditions to be observed in relation to their
employment;

so, however, that no such byelaws shall modify the restrictions contained in the last foregoing subsection save in so far as is expressly permitted by
paragraph (a) of this subsection, and any restriction contained in any such
byelaws shall have effect in addition to the said restrictions.

2(A) In this section -

“light work” means work which, on account of the inherent nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions under which they are performed -

(a) is not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of
children; and
(b) is not such as to be harmful to their attendance at school or to their
participation in work experience in accordance with section 560 of the
Education Act 1966, or their capacity to benefit from the instruction
received or, as the case may be, the experience gained;

“week” means any period of seven consecutive days; and
“year”, except in expressions of age, means a period of twelve months beginning with 1st January.

(3) Nothing in this section, or in any byelaw made under this section, shall prevent a child from doing anything -
(a) under the authority of a licence granted under this Part of this Act; or
(b) in a case where by virtue of section 37(3) of the Children and Young
Persons Act 1963 no licence under that section is required for him to do
it.

Changes from the existing legal framework

5. Changes from the existing framework are as follows:

13 year old children may in future work only in occupations listed in local authority byelaws
children will now have a two week period free from working during their school holidays each year
restrictions on working hours on Saturdays and during school holidays are now included in the 1933 Act, rather than in byelaws
provision for rest breaks is similarly now in the 1933 Act.

For further information please contact:

Wirral Attendance Service, Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey, Wirral
CH27 9FQ
Tel: 0151 666 3433
Email: childlicensing@wirral.gov.uk