My daughter aged 14 is wondering about taking work in a small restaurant locally, washing up, one evening a week for around 5 hours. I believe some of her friends already do the same thing.
What are the implications of this from a parents point of view? We are not sure if this is allowed under employment law, should we be worried as parents or is it the employer who is taking the risk?
The legal working age in the UK
Yes, it is legal to work at 14 in the UK. The minimum age for most types of employment is 14, though children as young as 13 can take on certain light work. This includes paper rounds but also extends to other roles depending on what your local council permits.
The rules around child employment come from the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and later amendments. These laws allow teenagers to gain work experience and earn money, but with strict limits. Young workers cannot be employed in factories, on construction sites, or anywhere serving alcohol. Work that could harm their health, wellbeing or education is also prohibited.
Local councils often have additional rules and may require employers to obtain a work permit before hiring anyone under school leaving age. This permit process typically involves parents and employers working together to ensure the arrangement meets legal requirements. Since rules vary between areas, it is worth checking regional variations early when exploring options.
Check what work your teenager can legally do: the minimum age for different jobs, how many hours they can work, rest breaks and where pubs, kitchens and shops fit in.
Try our Teen Work Rules Checker free, here on this site →Working hours during term time
When school is in session, the restrictions are quite tight. On school days, 14 year olds can work a maximum of two hours in total. This can include one hour before school starts and time after school finishes, but the daily total must not exceed two hours.
Across the whole week during term time, including weekends, the limit is 12 hours. Within this, Sunday working is capped at two hours. These rules apply to all children between 13 and the school leaving age.
Employers must also provide breaks. After three hours of continuous work, a young person is entitled to a one hour rest break. This applies primarily during weekends and holidays when longer shifts become permissible.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Working hours during school holidays
The limits increase during holiday periods. At 13 and 14, a young person can work up to 25 hours per week. For those aged 15 up to the school leaving age (the end of June in the school year they turn 16), this rises to 35 hours per week.
On individual days outside term time, older teenagers in this bracket can work up to eight hours, with a break of at least one hour required after four hours of work. Younger workers have lower daily limits.
Other types of work
Performance work in acting, modelling or sports events operates under separate regulations with its own licensing requirements. Charitable or voluntary work may also fall outside typical employment rules, offering additional ways for teenagers to gain experience.
If your teenager wants to work, their employer should be aware of these regulations. Many businesses that regularly employ young people, such as supermarkets and local shops, are likely to have compliance systems in place already.
For current information on child employment rules, GOV.UK publishes detailed guidance, or you can contact your local council's education welfare service.
My 14 year old would like to do some work. I'm unsure of what jobs she can do other than a paper round, and tbh I'm not keen on her wandering around on her own doing deliveries for obvious reasons.
I'm hoping you may be able to send me a list of suitable jobs that we can look for, suitable for this age please.
Thank you in advance.
We have a small shop and we have a work experience at the moment and she is 14 years of age. She would like to work for us on a Saturday doing computer work putting items online for sale. Would this be allowed and would she have to be supervised or could she be left in the shop on her own. ?
Look forward to your reply.
Kind regards
SONYA CROSS \
We are involved with proffesionals and sees a clinical psycologist. I talk through her distress and behaviour with proffessional people but don't seem to be able to communicate to them the full picture.
She comes to talk to me when she feels hurt by her peers comments or has been threatened in some way by a certain gang of teenagers in the area, and we have close links with the police and her school etc., although she has no trust in authority figures of any kind.
She accepts comfort and reassurance from me when she is a victim of bullying etc., but as soon as I have found out something/or the school find out something to do with her behaving in a negative or an imoral way she puts a 'ten feet wall' between us and even before I have even considered how I am going to approach her about this behaviour or even uttered one word she becomes voilently agressive towards me which is an extremely effective defense mechansim.
I go to her room to both check that she is not self harming and talk softly to her but she immediatly tells me to get out.
I am told to try talking to her or dole out consequences for bad behaviour but the only alternative I have is to leave her alone as she becomes very very hostile.
For example this happened tonight. We had been getting on very well in the last few days and then her friends mother phoned and told me she has found out that her and my daughter had been stealing from a local shop. Her friend must have been texted her to tell her that her mother had found out. I only called her name as she was upstairs in her bedroom and she shouted 'go away'. I then went up to her room and she kept saying 'get out;. On another occasion she tried pushing me down the stairs.
I am always frightend that she will take an overdose, cut herself or run away while she is like this too and find it difficult to deal with.
Wondered if anyone could give some advice on what is going on with her and how I am to deal with it.
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