Children and work experience in landscaping

Work experience can be a valuable endeavour for children, employers, and the wider industry, providing opportunities to test potential careers and fill much-discussed skill gaps, and the good news is landscaping businesses can offer it.

There are restrictions around employing children in industrial workplaces, such as construction sites and potentially some landscaping sites, but work experience has been exempted from these.

Nevertheless, given the physical nature of landscaping and the tools often involved, addressing the health and safety aspects of a work experience arrangement will be very important for many businesses.

The Health & Safety Executive has published specific guidance on young people and work experience for employers, covering basic legal responsibilities, risk assessments, as well as insurance.

In addition to health and safety considerations, there are also regulations around minimum ages, working hours, and pay, all of which are summarised in government guidance on child employment.

This guidance also says most local councils require employers to apply for a child employment permit before taking on school-aged children, though such permits are not needed where work experience is arranged by a school.

There may also be local bylaws which prevent children from doing certain jobs and place further restrictions on work experience arrangements and businesses should contact the relevant local authority for more information.

Clearly, there is a lot for landscaping businesses to consider before offering work experience to school-aged children, but BALI members can seek further advice, free-of-charge from our partner Quest on 0116 243 7881.