Child licensing

It is a legal duty to register with the Local Authority and obtain an employment licence for each child who is still at school.

Children between the age of 13 and 16 years who are working have to have a child employment licence issued to their employer.

The employer is responsible for ensuring that an application is completed properly and submitted to the Local Authority within one week of the commencement of the child’s employment for every child who works for them, including their own children from the council that covers where they will work.

The employer must also gain the consent from the child’s parent/guardian. The childs age will limit the amount of hours they can work per week and they can only work between the hours of 7am - 7pm.

Age of child	13-14 years old	15-16 years old
School day	one hour before plus one after, or two hours after	one hour before plus one after, or two hours after
Non - school week (in total)	25 hours	35 hours
Non - school day	five hours	eight hours
Sunday	max two hours	max two hours

To make an application you need to ensure that you have the following ready beforehand:

• all of your employer information to hand e.g. name, address, email address, nature of business, nature of child’s duties etc.
• confirmation that you hold employee liability insurance
• parental consent and medical history
• child's personal details such as name, address, date of birth, school
• a copy of your risk assessment
• a copy of the completed parental consent/medical information (Word, 2MB)

What happens next?

Once we receive your application we will check that all information is correct, and if there is any missing information the application will be rejected. We will contact you to request further information.

If we feel it is necessary to carry out a site inspection before issuing a licence, we will email you to arrange a suitable date and time.

If all information is correct and your application has been accepted, we will email you the completed licence.