Council swoop on businesses and discover nineteen children working illegally

As part of national Child Employment Fortnight county council officers visited businesses to ensure that the children they employed were doing so safely and within the law.

The officers from the education welfare service visited 169 businesses in the county and found 19 children working illegally without the correct work permit.

In these cases employers were told that legally a child must have the necessary employment card to be able to work. These employers may be paid a follow-up visit.

The work permits are one way in which the local authority can be kept informed of where children are employed and can monitor the hours they work and check the work they do is not dangerous, as set out by government guidelines.

Anyone who employs a child illegally risks prosecution and a fine of up to 1,000.

A spokesperson for East Sussex County Council said:

"We do have the powers to prosecute, and would use these powers, but only as a last resort."

Officers also visited seven secondary schools across the county and held lunch time drop-in sessions for pupils.

They answered questions from young people about starting a part-time job, what hours they were allowed to work, and the type of jobs they could do.

A total of 1,400 information leaflets were given out to pupils in these sessions providing advice on the rules that apply if they want to work part-time.

Councillor David Elkin, East Sussex County Council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness said:

"Every year officers from our education welfare team take part in this national campaign to raise awareness of the rules around child employment and make sure young people in our county are kept safe if they are working.

"We don't want to stop young people from working as we know how important it is for them to earn a bit of extra pocket money.

A part-time job can also give them their first taste of employment.

"But it is really important that employers know the law and that young people are kept safe, treated appropriately for their age, and not exploited in any way."

For more information about the law around child employment including two guides for young people and employers visit http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies/safetyoutofschool/employment