Support available to schools on Child Employment from the Education Welfare Service.

I would like to take this opportunity to outline the support available from the Education Welfare Service on child employment for those schools who wish to take advantage of it.

I am the Child Employment Officer for Devon County Council and over the last year have visited several schools to speak at assemblies about Child Employment Law and the need for work permits. In some cases this has been a short ten minute session to year groups, but others have requested a longer session which has included a power point presentation. This outlines areas of illegal employment and the consequences for school children who have been exploited by employers and / or injured at work.

After each visit we noticed an increase in the requests for work permits from the children and in every case a large number of them indicated they were already working but had no permit. It is illegal for any child of compulsory school age to work without a permit and it is the employer’s responsibility to apply for one. However, many do not and for the children employed it means they are extremely vulnerable because many are exploited and work long hours at jobs they are not permitted to do. It also means that employers will probably find that if they had to make an injury claim against their insurance they will have none, as the employment is illegal in the first place.

If you would like to discuss what support is available to your school further, you can contact me on 01392 384713 and I will do my best to accommodate you.

Thank you

Christine Ellison Child Employment and Performance Officer Devon County Council

• Child Employment