Apply for a child employment permit

• The definition of 'work' as applies to children below Minimum School Leaving Age (MSLA) is: 'any work that is part of a business whether or not the person is paid'.
• Children cannot work until they are 13 years old and may only do work involving light duties.
• Babysitting is not considered 'work' by the law.
• All children who are employed must hold a work permit.
• Statutory school leaving date is the last Friday in June in the academic year in which the child is 16 years old.

Work permits

• A work permit can be issued to a child between 13 and the statutory school leaving age. The application must be completed by the employer, we do not accept work permit applications from parents/carers or children.
• The work permit must be issued in the local authority where children work, regardless of where they live or go to school.
• A risk assessment must be carried out and shown to the child’s parents before a work permit is issued.
• A job checklist must be submitted with the form.

When you cannot employ a child:

• in a cinema, theatre, discotheque, dance hall or night club (unless licensed to perform there)
• to sell or deliver alcohol: except in sealed containers
• to deliver milk
• to deliver fuel oils
• in a commercial kitchen
• to collect or sort refuse
• 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
• in employment involving harmful exposure to physical, biological or chemical agents
• to collect money or to sell or canvass door to door, except under the supervision of an adult
• in work involving exposure to adult material or in situations which are for this reason otherwise unsuitable for children
• in telephone sales
• 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
• 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.

5 minute guide to child employment

There are 2 parts to the application process, the Application for an Employment Permit form, and the Job Checklist. The application should be signed by the parent and the employer then returned to us within 7 days of the start of employment commencing:

Part 1: Application for an Employment Permit Form. 

This form needs to be completed by the parent in conjunction with the employer. Please complete all parts of the form and attach the Job Checklist to it. 

Application for an employment permit

Part 2: Job Checklist 

Complete the most appropriate template below, then attach it to the Application for an Employment Permit form.

If you need assistance to complete either of these forms, please get in touch with us using the contact details below.

• Café / Restaurant Work 
• Newspaper / Other Delivery Work 
• Generic Template (to be adapted by the employer as needed)

Reporting concerns form

Education Inclusion Service
Gloucestershire County Council
3rd Floor, Block 4
Shire Hall
Westgate Street
Gloucester GL1 2TP

childemp@gloucestershire.gov.uk 

Telephone: 01452 427868