Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet / presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of His Majesty, August 1950.

  • Great Britain. Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet
Date:
1950
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet / presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of His Majesty, August 1950. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/130 page 4
    PART I: THE PRESENT LAW (i) ENGLAND AND WALES Employment of Children Generally 8. The main statutory provisions for the protection of children in non- industrial work are to be found in Part II of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933,* as amended by the Education Act, 1944. By section 58 of the Education Act, 1944, the expression “child’’ when used in any enactment relating to employment means a person who is not over compulsory school age. By section 18 (1) of the 1933 Act, a child was not to be employed until he reached the age of twelve (with minor exceptions which are not of relevance here). The amendment made by the Education Act, 1944, as since amended, ‘substituted for the age of twelve an age “two years below that which is for the time being the upper limit of the compulsory school age.” The effect of this provision is that a child may not be employed until he reaches the age of thirteen ; when eventually the school leaving age is raised to sixteen, he will not be eligible for employment before the age of fourteen. The follow- ing general restrictions on the employment of children are contained in section 18 of the Act: (a) a child may not be employed on school days for more than two hours or before the close of school hours, but local authorities are empowered to permit by byelaw employment for not more than one hour before schoo] opens ; (b) a child may not be employed before 6 a.m. or after 8 p.m. on any day, or for more than two hours on a Sunday. 9, There is no statutory limit on the number of hours which a child may work on days on which he is not required to attend school, provided the employment does not begin before 6 a.m. or continue after 8 p.m., but we understand that many local authorities fix by byelaw a maximum of five hours a day. 10. A byelaw now commonly adopted makes it'a condition of employ- ment that the child shall be medically examined by the school medical officer, and a certificate obtained that the employment will not be pre- judicial to the health and physical development of the child, and will not render him unfit to obtain proper benefit from his education. Section 59 of the Education Act, 1944, gives a local authority power, where they consider a child is being employed in such a manner as to be prejudicial to his health or education, to prohibit the employer from using the child, or to impose such restrictions as appear expedient in the child’s interest. 11. Section 30 of the Act, which applies to all employment of children, provides that “a person who assists in a trade or occupation carried on for profit shall be deemed to be employed notwithstanding that he receives no reward for his labour.” A child may therefore be employed even when he himself is not paid ; for instance, when he is helping his parent who is employed or who is carrying on a business. 12. The central Department concerned with the general employment of children is the Home Office ; local education authorities are guided by the Home Office in the local administration of the general employment law but, by the Eighth Schedule to the Education Act, 1944, any expenses * References throughout the Report to “ the Act ’’, and to sections of an Act are to the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, and to sections of that Act, unless otherwise stated.
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