Your rights when working

Everyone has rights when working which keep you safe and enable you to be well at work
Image
job application

Everyone has rights at work. These include things like

  • Having a contract of employment
  • Having set hours and time off
  • Having rates of pay

Find out more: Check out the government website to find out more about your employee rights.  

Rights for younger workers

There are extra rules to protect younger workers. There also some jobs (for example driving jobs) where you will need to be older. 

If you are 16-17 you have extra rights including:

  • Not work between 10pm-6am (with some exceptions)
  • One hour of rest when working over 4 hours
  • Time off for study or training, paid at the normal hourly rate

Crucial: If you are over 18, adult employment rights apply.

If you’re an apprentice, you are entitled to:

  • A written contract of employment
  • A safe working environment
  • Time off to study or for training

You can visit the Become an Apprentice website to find out all you need to know about becoming an apprentice. 

If you are pregnant:

If you are pregnant you have extra rights. You can find all your rights on the government website.

Take Action: Find out more about health, childcare, and relationships in the Young Parents section.

National Insurance (NI)

Just before you turn 16, you’ll will receive your National Insurance number. When you work you will pay National Insurance contributions which builds up your entitlement to state benefits, including the State Pension.

Take action: Find out more about National Insurance from the government website.

Tax

Tax is usually taken out of your wages automatically once you earn above a certain amount. If your earnings change during the year, you can claim tax back at the end of the tax year.

Find out more: Check out the GOV.UK site for more information on tax rates.

Pensions

A pension provides an income after you retire. Most workplaces offer pension schemes, where the employer, the employee and the government all contribute money.

Take action: Find out more about pensions from the Money Helper.

Find out more

Comments

Posted by Aathi
Posted ago
so people at 13 can work?

Hi Aathi, thank you for your comment. At age 13, you can do small amounts of work, but these must not be during school hours or get in the way of your learning. Your employer does need to get a permit so that you can work, and they need to do a different risk assessment. They should read this page on the Oxfordshire County Council website about employing children.  

Leave a comment or question

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
CAPTCHA