Employing People under the Age of 18

There may be occasions when a person under the age of 18 is required to undertake work for the University. There are clear rules about such employment and this document provides further information. Please note that children under the age of 13 are not permitted to be employed.

In England and Wales,a young person can leave school on the last Friday in June if they are 16 or will be 16 before the start of the next school year. A child under 16 is defined as one under the minimum school leaving age.

The rules regarding the employment of children between the ages of 13 and the minimum school leaving age are as follows:

 

• They may only work between the hours of 7am and 7pm
• They may only work for two hours a day on a school day or a Sunday
• They must not be required to work during the school day
• They cannot work more than 12 hours per week during term time
• If they are aged 13 or 14, they can only work for 5 hours on a Saturday
• If they are aged 15 or 16, they can only work for 8 hours on a Saturday
• If they are aged 13 or 14, they cannot work more than 25 hours per week during holidays
• If they are aged 15 or 16, they cannot work more than 35 hours per week during holidays
• They are not permitted to work for more than four hours at a time without a rest break of at least one hour
• They cannot engage in any employment that is or could be harmful to their health, wellbeing or education
• They must have a break from any work of at least two weeks per year during school holidays

In addition, the University is required to inform Leicestershire County Council if it employs anyone under the age of 16. A ‘Juvenile Employment Form’ needs to be completed by the relevant department and forwarded to Human Resources, for onward transmission to the relevant Department within Leicestershire County Council within one week of the child commencing employment.

 The rules for children in this category are slightly more relaxed, as follows:

• They are not permitted to work more than 8 hours per day or more than 40 hours per week. (There is no opt out for this and the totals cannot be averaged out over a period of time)
• They must have a rest break of at least 30 minutes every four and a half hours
• They must have a 12 hour rest period between finishing work and commencing again
• They must have two days off per week
• They are not permitted to work between the hours of 10pm and 6am

Further advice is available from your HR Adviser.