Children must not work more than 12 hours a week in term time and 25 hours a week during the school holidays.
Child employment
A child is classed as ‘employed’ if they help in any trade or activity that is carried out to make money.
Children are classed as employed even if they are:
- given something other than money as payment (‘payments in lieu’), such as vouchers for clothing stores
- working in their family’s business
Hours children can work
No child is allowed to work during school hours and children who are younger than 13 years old are not allowed to work at all.
13 – 14 years old
Term time
- School days: no more than 2 hours per day. The 2 hours can either be 1 hour before and 1 hour after school or 2 hours after school
- Saturdays: 5 hours per day
- Sundays: 2 hours per day
School holidays
- Weekdays and Saturdays: Up to 5 hours per day
- Sundays: 2 hours per day
Other conditions
- A child can only work between 7am and 7pm even if it’s during the school holidays.
- Children should be given a 1-hour break after every 4 hours they work. Their employers can choose to give them extra breaks on top of this 1-hour break.
- Children should have at least 2 consecutive weeks off, during school holidays.
15 – 16 years old
Term time
- School days: No more than 2 hours per day. The 2 hours can either be 1 hour before and 1 hour after school or 2 hours after school.
- Saturdays: 8 hours per day
- Sundays: 2 hours per day
School holidays
- Weekdays and Saturdays: Up to 8 hours a day
- Sundays: 2 hours a day
Other conditions
- A child can only work between 7am and 7pm even if it’s during the school holidays.
- Children should be given a 1-hour break after every 4 hours they work. Their employers can choose to give them extra breaks on top of this 1-hour break.
- Children should have at least 2 consecutive weeks off during school holidays.