Child employment permit

If you fail to obtain a work permit for a child that you employ, you may be fined up to £1,000.

Before you apply

If you're an employer, you'll need to:

• carry out a risk assessment – this ensures your workplace is a safe environment
• check child employment regulations – GOV.UK
• check Croydon Council's byelaws

When to apply

Within 1 week of employing a child, the employer must send to the authority a completed application form.

The parents of the child and the employer will need to fill in an application form.

Information parents must provide

The parent will need to:

• get consent from the child's Head Teacher or Head of Year
• provide one passport size colour photograph of the child

Information the employer must provide

In the application form, you'll need to provide:

• the child's details, including the name of their school
• days and times of when the child will be working
• confirm a risk assessment has been carried out to ensure the work environment is safe for the child

Complete the application form 

Download the application for a child employment permit (Word, 86KB)

Both the parent and the employer will need to submit their application form to the Child Employment & Entertainment Officer, and Education Welfare Service.

Email: child.employment@croydon.gov.uk.

After you've applied

Before issuing an employment permit, we may ask for the child to have a medical examination.

If your application is rejected or needs amendments

We may amend or revoke a child’s employment permit if:

• there are reasonable grounds to believe the child is being unlawfully employed
• the child's health or welfare is being taken advantage of
• the child's education is suffering