Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026

28 Employment of children in England and Wales

(1) The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 is amended as follows.

(2) For section 18 substitute—

“18 Restrictions on employment of children

(1) A child may not be employed to work—

(a) so long as the child is under the age of 14 (subject to regulations under subsection (2));

(b) to do any work other than light work;

(c) to do work of a description specified in regulations made by the appropriate national authority;

(d) before 7.00 a.m. or after 8.00 p.m. on any day;

(e) on any day on which the child is required to attend school—

(i) for more than one hour before the start of school hours,

(ii) during school hours, or

(iii) for more than two hours in total in the day;

(f) for more than 12 hours in any week in which the child is required to attend school;

(g) for more than eight hours or, if the child is under 15, for more than five hours in any day on which the child is not required to attend school;

(h) for more than 35 hours or, if the child is under 15, for more than 25 hours in any week in which the child is not required to attend school;

(i) for more than four hours in any day without a break of one hour;

(j) at any time in a year unless at that time a person employing the child is satisfied that the child has had, or could still have, a period of at least two consecutive weeks without employment during a period in the year in which the child is not required to attend school.

(2) The appropriate national authority may by regulations authorise the employment of children aged 13 to do specified descriptions of light work.

(3) A child may not be employed to work except in accordance with a permit (a “child employment permit”) granted by a local authority on an application made in accordance with regulations made by the appropriate national authority.

(4) The appropriate national authority may by regulations—

(a) make provision in relation to child employment permits;

(b) provide that subsection (3) does not apply in specified cases or circumstances;

(c) make provision about the keeping of records.

(5) The provision that may be made in reliance on subsection (4)(a) includes provision—

(a) authorising a local authority to request such information as the authority considers appropriate, or to require a child to have a medical examination, for the purpose of enabling the authority to determine an application;

(b) requiring a local authority to have regard to specified matters when determining an application;

(c) for the grant of a child employment permit subject to conditions determined by a local authority;

(d) requiring a child employment permit to contain specified information;

(e) authorising a local authority to vary, suspend or revoke a child employment permit in specified circumstances;

(f) about appeals against—

(i) a decision to reject an application, or

(ii) the revocation of a child employment permit;

(g) imposing requirements on persons employing children (including requirements to produce child employment permits for inspection);

(h) requiring or authorising a local authority, in specified circumstances, to disclose information about a child employment permit to another local authority in England or Wales or to a local authority in Scotland.

(6) The appropriate national authority may by regulations make provision (subject to subsection (1) and regulations under subsection (2))—

(a) specifying the number of hours in each day, or in each week, for which children may be employed, and the times of day at which they may be employed;

(b) specifying the intervals to be allowed to children for meals and breaks, when in employment;

(c) about entitlement to leave;

(d) specifying other conditions to be met in relation to the employment of children.

(7) Nothing in this section, or in regulations made under any provision of this section, prevents a child from doing anything—

(a) under the authority of a licence granted under this Part, or

(b) in a case where by virtue of subsection (3) of section 37 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963 no licence under that section is required for the child to do it.

(8) In this section—

• “appropriate national authority” means—

  (a)

  in relation to England, the Secretary of State;

  (b)

  in relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers;

• “light work” means work which, on account of the inherent nature of the tasks which it involves and the particular conditions under which they are performed—

  (a)

  is not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of children, and

  (b)

  is not such as to be harmful to their education (through attendance at school or otherwise) as required by section 7 of the Education Act 1996 or to their participation in work experience in accordance with section 560 of that Act, or their capacity to benefit from the education received or the experience gained (as the case may be);

• “local authority in Scotland” means a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

• “specified”, in relation to regulations made under any provision of this section, means specified in the regulations;

• “week” means any period of seven consecutive days;

• “year” means a period of 12 months beginning with 1 January.

18A Regulations under section 18: further provision

(1) Regulations under section 18 may—

(a) make different provision for different purposes or areas;

(b) make provision subject to exceptions;

(c) make transitional or saving provision.

(2) Regulations under section 18 may provide for the processing of information in accordance with the regulations not to be in breach of—

(a) any obligation of confidence owed by the person processing the information, or

(b) any other restriction on the processing of information (however imposed).

(3) Regulations under section 18 made by the Secretary of State are to be made by statutory instrument.

(4) Regulations under section 18 made by the Welsh Ministers are to be made by Welsh statutory instrument.

(5) A statutory instrument containing regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 18 is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(6) Regulations made by the Welsh Ministers under section 18 are subject to the Senedd annulment procedure (see section 37E of the Legislation (Wales) Act 2019 (anaw 4)).

(7) In this section “processing” has the same meaning as in the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section 3 of that Act).”

(3) In section 21 (penalties and legal proceedings in respect of general provisions as to employment), in subsection (1), after “byelaw” insert “or regulations”.

(4) In section 28 (powers of entry), in subsection (1), after “byelaw” insert “or regulations”.

(5) In section 30 (interpretation), in subsection (1), after “byelaws” insert “or regulations”.

(6) In Schedule 36A to the Education Act 1996, in the table, omit the entry for section 18 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (including the title of that Act).

(7) In Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act 2012 (anaw 2), in the table, in the English language and Welsh language texts, omit the entry that relates to byelaws made under section 18 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (referred to as “adran 18 o Ddeddf Plant a Phobl Ifanc 1933” in the Welsh language text).