Question: Is it legal for an employer to employ a young worker under the age of 18 who has left school but is not in education or training?
Answer: Short answer ‘Yes’.

The legal bit

There are duties on employers and school leavers under the Education and Skills Act 2008, but none of these have been brought into force and so can be described as ‘toothless’.

Therefore, subject to other usual working matters such as working time limits and minimum wage provisions, it would not be illegal for an employer to employ school leavers who are not receiving any education or recognised training. This will continue until either the law changes, or the relevant parts of the Act are brought into force but seeing as we’re now 16 years on, this seems very unlikely, unless the new Government has new plans.

It is worth noting that there are duties on local authorities which are in force, requiring them to encourage, enable and assist young people to participate in education or training. As well as making sure that suitable education and training facilities are available, local authorities have a duty to track young people’s participation in education and training plus identify and support those who are not taking part.

Guidance

The statutory guidance from the Department for Education is something a local authority must have regard to when exercising its functions relating to the participation of young people in education or training.

Employers may find that they are subject to some involvement from their local authority where they are employing under 18’s who are not in education or training because of the duty on that local authority. The level of involvement can and will vary between each local authority, depending on the approach they chose to take.