Education Act 1944

59 Power of local education authorities to prohibit or restrict employment of children.

(1) If it appears to a local education authority that any child who is a registered pupil at a county school, voluntary school, or special school, is being employed in such manner as to be prejudicial to his health or otherwise to render him unfit to obtain the full benefit of the education provided for him, the authority may, by notice in writing served upon the employer, prohibit him from employing the child, or impose such restrictions upon his employment of the child as appear to them to be expedient in the interests of the child.

(2) A local education authority may, by notice in writing served upon the parent or employer of any child who is a registered pupil at a county school, voluntary school, or special school, require the parent or employer to provide the authority, within such period as may be specified in the notice, with such information as appears to the authority to be necessary for the purpose of enabling them to ascertain whether the child is being employed in such a manner as to render him unfit to obtain the full benefit of the education provided for him.

(3) Any person who employs a child in contravention of any prohibition or restriction imposed under subsection (1) of this section, or who fails to comply with the requirements of a notice served under subsection (2) of this section, shall be guilty of an offence against this section and liable on summary conviction, in the case of a first offence to a fine not exceeding one pound, in the case of a second offence to a fine not exceeding five pounds, and in the case of a third or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding ten pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(4) Subsection (1) and subsection (3) of section twenty-eight of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (which relate to powers of entry for the enforcement of the provisions of Part II of that Act with respect to the employment of children) shall apply with respect to the provisions of any notice served under this section as they apply with respect to the provisions of the said Part II.