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Employing Younger Workers

Most salons will end up employing people under the age of 18 at some point, and when this happens there are special rules you need to follow.

Employing Children

Children aged between 13 and 16 don’t pay National Insurance, so you only need to include them on your payroll if they earn more than their Personal Allowance (April 2022: £12,750). There are several restrictions on when and where children are allowed to work. Children are not allowed to work:

  • Without an employment permit issued by the education department of the local council, if this is required by local bylaws (not all councils require one, but it’s worth checking in your local area). It may invalidate your insurance should you not hold the correct licence
  • During school hours
  • Before 7am or after 7pm
  • For more than one hour before school (unless local bylaws allow it)
  • For more than four hours without taking a break of at least one hour
  • In any work that may be harmful to their health, well-being or education
  • Without having a two week break from any work during the school holidays in each calendar year

During term time children can only work a maximum of 12 hours a week. This includes: 

  • A maximum of two hours on school days and Sundays
  • A maximum of five hours on Saturdays for 13 to 14-year-olds, or eight hours for 15 to 16-year-olds

During school holidays, 13 to 14-year-olds are only allowed to work a maximum of 25 hours a week. This includes: 

  • A maximum of five hours on weekdays and Saturdays
  • A maximum of two hours on Sunday

 During school holidays 15 to 16-year-olds can only work a maximum of 35 hours a week. This includes:

  • A maximum of eight hours on weekdays and Saturdays
  • A maximum of two hours on Sunday

Young Workers

A young worker is someone under 18 years of age. In England only, young people who do not hold a Level 3 education training qualification are required to stay in at least part-time education until they are at least 18 years old. This could be an apprenticeship.

Young workers age 16 and over need to be paid the National Minimum wage at the correct rate and do need to be included on your payroll.

Key points to remember:

  • Young workers are entitled to two days off per week
  • A daily rest break of 12 consecutive hours. This is between starting one work day and the next - salons can fall foul of this with late night opening
  • A rest break of at least 30 minutes if the working day lasts more than 4.5 hours

Pay

Under 16

School-aged children are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage. Children under 16 do not pay National Insurance, so you only need to include them on your payroll if their total income is over their Personal Allowance.

Once someone reaches 16

Young workers aged 16 to 17 are entitled to at least £4.35 per hour (2019 National Minimum Wage).

If you’re a registered employer, you’ll need to record and report their pay as part of running payroll. If they earn more than £118 a week, you’ll also need to do other regular PAYE tasks like making deductions. 

Equality

It is illegal to discriminate against employees, job seekers and trainees because of their age. This is called Age Discrimination. There are four types of Age Discrimination:

  • Direct discrimination: treating someone unfairly because of their actual or perceived age (they look young)
  • Indirect discrimination: when a policy or practice applies to all workers but disadvantages people of a particular age
  • Harassment: when unwanted conduct related to age creates an offensive environment for that person
  • Victimisation: unfair treatment of an employee who has made or supported a complaint about age discrimination

There has been a great deal written and said about Age Discrimination, and you shouldn’t directly ask how old someone is or ask leading questions related to the same point at interview. However, once you have employed someone then you may need to ask their date of birth to make sure you comply with the rules.