Work experience 14-17 yr olds - at home office

[jodyflorian]

Hi,

I'm in quite an unusual situation and really need some advice as close to the mark as possible.

In short, I'm hoping to take advantage of my local college's work experience initiative that provides students with between 2 and 10 weeks of unpaid experience.

I'm currently freelancing and need to prepare myself asap for this. I currently work from home and need to investigate the quickest way to set myself up for this - all the legal requirements. Preferably they would work at my home office but if necessary from their own home and I would visit them regularly.

I'm in desperate need of advice as cheap as possible to get this on the road asap, I've found a wealth of information on businesslink.org.uk but I literally have printed 500 pages and it's overwhelming. I have a free half-hour session with a lawyer coming up but want as much of the ground work covered before hand so I don't have to pay for expensive consultation.

Anyone with any experience in any of these matters, if you could provide advice and guidance I would owe a HUGE favour. I am willing to compensate for your time with a gesture of a modest payment.

Thanks in advance

Jody

---------
Jody Florian
Logicsmiths.co.uk

[FPB-advice]

Children between the ages of 13 and 16 years

It is illegal to employ children under the age of 13. The only exception is children under 13 doing light work on the family farm. It is normally illegal to employ a child of a non-EEA citizen and a child of a citizen of the new accession states.
In England and Wales, a child can leave school on the last Friday in June if they are 16 or will be 16 before the start of the next school year. In Scotland, if a child is 16, between 1 March and 30 September in the final school year then they can leave school on 31 May; or if they are 16 between the 1 October and the last day of February in the final school year they can leave school on the first day of the Christmas holidays.
Children between the age of 13 and the minimum school leaving age are prohibited from employment in industrial undertakings, such as factories or construction sites.The exception is when working on an experience scheme approved by the Local Education Authority, known as work experience. As a general rule, work should suit the child's age and the child should be protected from economic and/or moral exploitation. It is essential that all employers contact their Local Authority to ascertain whether or not localby-laws impose further restrictions on young persons work etc. Details are available from the Education Welfare Officers at your Local Authority.
Children between the age of 13 and the minimum school leaving age are required by law to have a work permit. Work permits are obtainable from your Local Authority (education or child welfare officer) who will require your name and address, the young person's details, including the school to which the child is registered to attend.
Employers should recognise that young workers are seen as being particularly at risk because of their possible lack of awareness of existing or potential risks, immaturity and inexperience for this reason they should ensure that they carry out a Young Person Risk Assessment for all employees under 18. The risk assessment should cover the job, its suitability and the measures taken to protect/control the employee.
Employers may be required to give information to the relevant authorities about the type of work and hours of work young persons are engaged in and confirmation that the risk assessment has been carried out according to health and safety regulations. For this reason, it is recommended that documentary evidence that the regulations have been complied with is always available.
Some 'prescribed dangerous machines' can only be used in factories by young workers after full instruction and sufficient training, and under close supervision. Examples: guillotines, mixers, bacon and vegetable slicers, and power-operated wrappers.
Employers should ensure parents are aware of and understand any risks children are taking whilst in their employment. It is therefore recommended that a copy of the young person risk assessment is given to the parents of school children to provide a written record and to avoid any misunderstanding, (even though the regulations state this can be done orally through the children).
Children between the ages of 13 to 16 years old may not work before 7am or after 7pm or where the employee's contract provides for them to work after 10pm, the period between 11pm and 7am.
On school days, children may not work for more than 2 hours, only one of which may be before school; and no more than 2 hours on any Sunday.
Children should have at least 2 weeks free from work during the school holidays each year.
On a Saturday or during school holidays, children under the age of 15 years cannot work for more than 5 hours a day (maximum of 25 hours per week).
Check your Employers Liability policy to ensure that employees under 16 years old are covered as some policies exclude anyone under this age.Young workers (persons aged over 15 years and less than 18)

The definition of a young worker is someone who is above the minimum school leaving age but under 18. Young workers cannot work more than a maximum of 8 hours per day (40 hours per week). If, on any day during any week, a young worker is employed by more than one employer, their working time in a week should be aggregated to meet these requirements. Subject to local by-laws.
Young workers cannot work for more than 8 hours a day on Saturdays or during school holidays and 40 hours in any week during school holidays.
A young worker is entitled to 12 uninterrupted rest hours in each 24 hour period in which they work. The rest may be interrupted if periods of work are split up over the day or do not last long.
Young workers should have 2 days off each week. This cannot be averaged over a 2 week period.
If a young worker works for more than 4 1/2 hours at a stretch, they are entitled to a rest break of 30 minutes.
If the nature of the job makes it unavoidable, a young worker's weekly time off can be reduced to 36 hours.
It is essential that all employers contact their Local Authority to ascertain whether or not localby-laws impose further restrictions on young persons work etc.Details are available from the Education Department at your Local Authority.
Employers should recognise that young workers are seen as being particularly at risk because of their possible lack of awareness of existing or potential risks, immaturity and inexperience for this reason they should ensure that they carry out a Young Person Risk Assessment for all employees under 18. The risk assessment should cover the job, its suitability and the measures taken to protect/control the employee.
Employers may be required to give information to the relevant authorities about the type of work and hours of work young persons are engaged in and confirmation that the risk assessment has been carried out according to Health and Safety regulations. For this reason it is recommended that documentary evidence that the regulations have been complied with is always available.
Some 'prescribed dangerous machines' can only be used in factories by young workers after full instruction and sufficient training, and under close supervision. Examples: guillotines, mixers, bacon and vegetable slicers, and power-operated wrappers.
Some of these rules do not apply when children are undertaking a formal work experience placement, but if you are in any doubt at all you should contact your Local Education Authority. The Health and Safety (Training for Employment) Regulations 1990 have the effect of designating children on work experience as employees for the purposes of health and safety legislation. Employers offering work experience placements to children must provide them with at least the same health and safety and welfare protection they give their own employees. A good resource for business owners would be the Young Workers website aims to provide an online resource to anyone with responsibility for young people in the workplace, and to the young people themselves. Go to www.youngworker.co.uk (http://www.youngworker.co.uk/).

[redcall safety]

Within my day job as a fire officer I have written child protection manuals for the fire service, you need to ensure that you have done your risk assessments! Also don't forget a fire risk assessment (and I promise I am not plugging for business.) You need do no more than a few lines about how, if there was a fire, the young person would know about it (smoke alarms) and how thet would be able to evacuate.

If you are at home your local fire and rescue service may have a home fire risk assessment initiative where they look at your house and fit free smoke alarms - look at firekills.gov.uk

Also be very wary of lone working with young people under 18.

[HAZEL B]

If you are taking work experiance students you must have employer's liability insurance and you will be required to produce it before taking any students. They are not a source of cheap labour and require a lot of looking after (which is why we no longer take them as we are too busy). You are not allowed to leave them unsupervised

Hope this helps.

[PI Guy]

I'm thinking of doing this myself for my son.

[jodyflorian]

Thankyou all for your replies!!

Summmary: Thanks and one more question....

I understand that they need top notch supervision and health and safety precautions. The website youngworker.co.uk. was of amazing help, a very good summary. It helped me find the right info on businesslink.gov.uk

While they require a lot of time, that is not a problem for me - my budget is low and my time is plenty so it fits in well for me.

redcall safety: Within my day job as a fire officer

Excellent advice. Was to some extend covered by the websites above but you did bring up some extra points which makes me think I need to find some more detailed info as the above websites were quite vague. Also be very wary of lone working with young people under 18.

Now THAT I had not thought of. Very good point. What can be done? They would be working at my home office most likely, so the only people around would be my family - If anyone can help suggest solutions I would be most grateful. This is now a major concern of mine. Especially as this has not been covered ANYWHERE on the government websites. I presume this is not something they want to have employers worry about as it would potentially reduce opportunities for young people.

Otherwise everything is looking really good, I've already done a preliminary risk assessment with the guidance in the websites and I'm satisfied that this is a safe place to work, even for under 19's.

[dragonbrood]

If you are concerned about having the kids at your own home (I work form home too) I would suggest you apply for a CRB certificate (Criminal Records Beureau check). This should reassure people and would be what you would require where you to help in a school environment. Even parents helping out on trips are required by the LEA here to have a valid CRB certificate.


Please don't let this put you off, having young people around learning from you can be very rewarding.

[gogreen]

I don't know the legal position and it may well be different in Scotland anyway, but we have had our Local Authority talk to our business association about work experience placements. One thing they were very clear about is they would not allow a student to work in a home office placement. These were 15/16 year olds -it may be different once they have left school.The main issues are health and safety and CRB checks/supervision.

I would ask the work placement team. Hope you can get something sorted out.

Anne

[jodyflorian]

I've visited the CRB website and you can't have a check on yourself - including the self employed.