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The Victorian Child Employment Act 2003 seeks to protect the health, safety and moral welfare of children who work. It also seeks to ensure that any work that children do does not adversely affect their education.
Child employment in Victoria was formerly regulated by provisions in the Community Services Act 1970. This act had not been substantively amended in thirty years, and did not reflect current community standards.
Under the Act, the existing child employment permit system is retained for the employment of children under 15, with some changes. One change is related to children working in a family business: family businesses do not require a permit in order to employ children.
There is also a new mandatory requirement for a police check of the criminal record of those people employing and directly supervising children in the workplace.
Child Employment Permits are free of charge, and parents are responsible for applying for permits. The child's prospective employer and school also have to sign the permit application. The employer also must include details regarding the child's intended duties and hours of work. Permit applications are available for download as a pdf.
 | General Information - Child Employment (PDF 141Kb) |
| General information about the Child Employment Act 2003. |
Contact the Victorian Business Line (VBL) on 13 22 15 regarding any problems with file downloads.
The Act introduced a system of mandatory police checks into the criminal record of prospective employers and any people who will be directly supervising children in the workplace. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings are exempt from this requirement. Police checks must be conducted prior to the issuing of a permit or whenever someone else becomes the child's supervisor.
Due to the requirement for police checks, applications now take longer to process than they have in the past. Accordingly, an appropriate length of time should be allowed when planning to make an application.
The Act establishes a number of general conditions of employment, including a minimum age of employment.
There is a minimum age of 13 for employment generally, although there is no minimum age for the employment of children in a family business or in the entertainment industry. However, there is a minimum age of 11 for children delivering newspapers and advertising material or making deliveries for a registered pharmacist.
Children, including children working with their parents, are only permitted to perform light work. Light work is defined as work that is not likely to be harmful to a child's health, safety or moral and material welfare or development and is not such as to affect their ability to attend school or their learning capacity.
Hours of work are regulated under the Act. Children can be employed for a maximum of three hours per day and 12 hours per week during school term, and a maximum of six hours per day and 30 hours per week during school holidays. These hours are inclusive of rest breaks.
Children can only be employed between the hours of 6.00am and 9.00pm. Children engaged in street trading can't be employed between the hours of 6.00pm and 6.00am, or sunset and sunrise (depending on the time of year).
Children must receive a minimum rest break of 30 minutes for every 3 hours worked and at least 12 hours break between finishing one shift and commencing the next. Employment during school hours on a school day without an exemption is prohibited.
Children working in family businesses do not require a child employment permit. This means that children do not need to have a permit to perform farming related chores on a family farm, as long as these chores fall within the definition of light work.
Parents employing their children in a family business are also not required to observe the general conditions of employment relating to age restrictions, hours of work or rest breaks. Parents are, however, required to directly supervise their children and to observe the restrictions relating to:
The Act provides for a mandatory code of practice to regulate the employment of children in the entertainment industry. This code has been developed in consultation with relevant union, employer and Government representatives. Although most of the general conditions of employment do not apply to the entertainment industry, the light work restrictions do have application.
For more information on employing children in the entertainment industry, see 'Mandatory Code of Practice for Children in the Entertainment Industry', elsewhere in this section.
The Act provides for a range of offences and penalties. Offences include:
Penalties for these and other offences range from $1000 to $10,000.
The role of Child Employment Officers is to:
Child Employment Officers have powers to ensure that employers follow the requirements of the Act, as well as observing all related regulations and permit conditions. Officers may enter a workplace in order to:
