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W18 - Workers aged 16 and 17: the rules

If workers are over the minimum school-leaving age but under 18, they must not work for more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. If you employ anybody in this age group you must also give them:

• a break of 30 minutes every four-and-a-half hours worked
• a rest period of 12 hours between each working day
• two days off a week

All 16 and 17-year-olds are also entitled to a national minimum wage of £3 an hour. Apprentices under 19 are exempt from the national minimum wage.

Risk assessments

You must carry out, or review, a risk assessment, paying attention to the health and safety implications of employing young people. Consider their immaturity as well as their inexperience when you do this.

Under-18s may be employed in certain dangerous environments only if it is necessary for their training, and they are supervised and the risks are minimised.

Training

If you take on an employee aged 16 or 17 who has not received a certain level of education, they may be entitled to paid time off for study or training. Your business may be entitled to financial help toward the cost of this.

You can take on an employee up to the age of 24 under the apprenticeship programme or one of your employees can join the programme.

Young employees who believe they have suffered a detriment because of requesting time off for training or have been refused it may complain to an employment tribunal.

Redundancy

If you need to make a young worker redundant, workers under 18 are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay. For older workers, any time spent working for you before the worker turned 18 is not counted when calculating statutory redundancy pay.

We take great pride in our service, and would be delighted to invite you for a free 1 hour, no obligation meeting at our comfortable offices. Simply call us  on 020 8346 0391 to arrange a mutually convenient time.

This web-site was last updated on 29/07/2008

Specialist Dental Accountants for over 27 years.

Copyright © 2003-2008 Mac Kotecha & Company. All rights Reserved. The information on this site is for general guidance only. It is essential to take professional advice on specific issues about their impact on any individual or entity. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omission or for any person acting or refraining from acting on the information provided on this site.

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