Legal Update: Engaging Young Workers

With the summer holidays approaching, there may be more young people looking to get into work. There are a number of considerations for recruitment businesses in terms of internal staff and the temporary agency workers they supply to their clients.

Young workers are workers who have reached the age of 15 but not yet attained the age of 18 (workers aged 15 to 17).

Requirement to remain in education or training

In England, there is a requirement for young people to remain in some sort of education and training under the Education and Skills Act 2008. Members looking to supply young workers must confirm that workers are fulfilling this requirement, otherwise the worker cannot be supplied. This can be fulfilled by participating in:

• Appropriate full-time education or training, or
• Training in accordance with a contract of apprenticeship or an apprenticeship agreement,
• 16- and 17-year-olds can also comply with this duty where they are neither in full-time education or training, but instead can be:
  • In “full time occupation” (working under a contract of employment or as a self-employed person under which arrangement the worker works at least 20 hours per week, and for which the expected duration of the contract or arrangement is at least 8 weeks), and
  • Participating in “sufficient relevant training or education in each relevant period” (for those in full-time occupation this means a minimum of 280 hours of guided learning per year or the equivalent pro rata for shorter periods).

Working Time

Members should be aware that there are different working time limits for young workers. Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, young workers are entitled to the following:

• An absolute maximum average working week (inclusive of overtime) of 40 hours;
• A maximum working day of 8 hours except where required for continuity of service or a surge in demand, or where no adult worker is available, or where it would not adversely affect a young workers education or training;
• A 30-minute rest break where the working day is longer than 4.5 hours;
• A minimum daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period;
• A minimum of 48 hours rest in every 7 days;
• Young workers may not ordinarily work at night between 10pm and 6am, or 11pm and 7am if their contract provides for work after 10pm except if they are employed in:
  • Hospitals or similar establishments; or
  • In any of the following activities: cultural, artistic, sporting, advertising.
• Young workers may work between 10 or 11pm until midnight and between 4am to 6 or 7am if they are employed in the following types of establishment:
  • Agriculture,
  • Retail trading,
  • Postal or newspaper deliveries,
  • A catering business,
  • A hotel, public house, restaurant, bar or similar establishment,
  • A bakery.
  • And it is necessary to either maintain continuity of service or production; or
  • To respond to a surge in demand for service or product;
  • There is no adult available to perform the task;
  • The training needs of the young worker are not adversely affected; and
  • The young worker is allowed an equivalent period of compensatory rest.

Young workers must be adequately supervised where that is necessary for their protection, meaning that REC members should co-operate with their client to ensure appropriate measures are put in place.

Risk Assessments

Before supplying a young worker, although you do not have to do a separate risk assessment, you will need to ensure that the risk assessment done by your business/the client covers young workers. Although practically speaking it will most likely be the client doing the risk assessment as they are in control of the premises on which the worker will be working, as health and safety responsibility is shared between you and the client, you must ensure that a satisfactory risk assessment which covers young workers as well is done before supplying a young worker.

Under Regulation 18 of the Conduct Regulations 2003, employment businesses should obtain sufficient information on health and safety risks, as well as steps taken to mitigate those risks, prior to introducing or supplying workers to a client. Members should obtain information relating to an appropriate risk assessment covering young workers in line with your Conduct Regulations obligations, as well as health and safety obligations.

There is also a requirement to carry out a more onerous health assessment or capacities checks on young workers doing night work including consideration of whether the worker has the physical and psychological ability to do the work. What constitutes a capacities check will be subject to the commonsense approach.

You should also consider legally required age limits on the use of some equipment and machinery if applicable (for example forklift trucks and some woodworking machinery).

Final Steps

Prior to engaging a young worker, I would also recommend contacting your local authority to check any byelaws in place, which may place further restrictions on the hours of work, conditions of work and the nature of work that is permitted. You are also likely to need a permit from the local education authority before you can engage a young worker.

More information can be found on our legal guide.