Protecting Young Workers
Guidance for Managers
Introduction
The purpose of this guidance document is to work alongside the UoR Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk Policy to ensure that the university is meeting legal requirements and ensuring safeguarding is in place for young workers employed at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø.
This document provides guidance for managers who employ or may recruit young workers - a ‘young worker’ is an employee who has reached school leaving age but is under 18, such as 16-17 year old apprentices or Campus Jobs workers.
Apprentices
Apprentices are staff employed at the university, normally full time, completing work-based learning. Apprentices must be at least 16 years old at the start of an apprenticeship, therefore they may be 16-17 years old while working at ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø. Managers must be aware when recruiting for Intermediate or Advanced apprenticeships (Level 2 or Level 3), applicants as young as 16 years may be eligible because the normal entry criteria for these apprenticeships is GCSE level.
Pay
Young workers must be paid at least the for their age.
Any workers employed through Campus Jobs must given the correct rate of pay based on the work they are completing, as per the Temporary Worker Framework.
Apprentices at the university of ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø are paid at the appropriate grade on the salary scale, according to the duties and responsibilities of the role. Contact your HR Advisor for advice when deciding the appropriate salary for a new apprentice role.
Discrimination
Age is a protected characteristic by law under the Equality Act 2010. This means it's against the law to treat someone less favourably because of either:
- their age
- the age they appear to be
To avoid discrimination when recruiting apprentices, all staff should not allow any bias or stereotypical thinking about age to influence the assessment or decision-making at any stage of the recruitment process. The provides some helpful steps to take to avoid discrimination when recruiting.
Working Hours
Young workers have different employment rights from adult workers and are protected in relation to the hours they can work. By law, young workers must not work more than:
- 8 hours a day
- 40 hours a week
Managers must ensure that their young workers to not exceed their maximum working hours each day or week, and must keep a record of all of their working hours. Young workers are also entitled to rest breaks each day/week, and there are restrictions on the times that young workers can work at night.
Rest Breaks
Young workers must have, as a minimum:
- a 30-minute break if their working day is longer than 4.5 hours
- 12 hours' rest in any 24-hour period in which they work
- 48 hours' rest taken together, each week
- oor , if there is a good business reason why this is not possible, at least 36 hours' rest, with the remaining 12 hours taken as soon as possible afterwards
Night Working
Young workers must not work during the 'restricted period'. The restricted period is:
- between 10pm and 6am if their contract does not say
- between 11pm and 7am if their contract allows for them to work after 10pm
They can work until midnight or from 4am onwards if it's necessary in certain types of work, for example catering or hotel/restaurant work. But this is only if there are no adult workers available to do the work, and working those hours will not have a negative effect on the young person's education or training.
It's against the law for anyone aged under 18 to work between midnight and 4am, even if they do one of the jobs above.
If they do need to work after 10pm or before 7am, the employer must make sure the young worker:
- is supervised by one or more adult workers where necessary for their protection
- has enough rest at another time if they need to work during their normal rest breaks or rest periods
Keeping Records
By law, employers must keep records of any young worker's:
- working hours – to make sure they're not working more than 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week
- ·night work, if they do any – to show they're not working during restricted hours
- health assessments offered before st