Hours you can Work

The TUC offer this helpful summary about young people's working hours. for more detailed information visit the TUC's WorkSMART website or download their free documents below.

• Young workers aged 16 and 17 may not ordinarily work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours per week under the Working Time Regulations, nor at night between 10pm-6am or 11pm to 7am.
• Young workers cannot 'opt-out' of the 40 hour limit and must not work more than 5 days per week.

Young workers aged 14-16

The WorkSMART website offers the following useful information about what young workers are entitled to do:

The Children and Young Persons Act (1933) sets 14 as the minimum age at which children may be employed, and gives the following restrictions:

• No child shall do any work other than light work. ‘Light work’ in this case is defined as tasks and working conditions which would not be harmful to the safety, health or development of children, and would not compromise their education.
• A 14 year old may not work for more than five hours on a Saturday or any other day (other than a Sunday) during the holidays. On a Sunday a 14 year old may only work 2 hours.
• On a school day, a 14 year old may not work: during school hours; before 7.00am or after 7.00pm; for more than 2 hours a day; or for more than 12 hours in any school week.
• In the holidays a 14 year old may not work for more than 25 hours in any week, or for more than four hours in any day without a rest break of one hour.
• A child must have at least two consecutive non-school weeks a year without work.

Also, although children between the ages of 14 and 16 may be employed in industry (subject to the restrictions on hours), employers have to keep a register of all employees under 16 and their dates of birth.

The National Minimum Wage does not apply to workers under 16.

Working Time Regulations

The Working Time Regulations (WTR) implement the European Working Time Directive and parts of the Young Workers Directive, which relate to the working time of adolescent workers (workers above the minimum school leaving age but below 18). Young workers in the armed forces, the police and emergency services, the aviation sector and the road transport sector, are also covered by the young workers provisions in the Working Time Regulations.

The TUC publishes the following free leaflets available for you to download:

	Young people at work Download this Know Your Rights leaflet as a pdf file (742KB) (you will need Adobe Acrobat to view this file, download this software free) Read online - The information is also available on workSMART, the TUC's website for everyone at work.
	Download The National Minimum Wage leaflet as a pdf file (742KB) (you will need Adobe Acrobat to view this file, download this software free)