Child licensing

Published Tuesday 3 January 2006 at 10:40

Do you have a child who is getting work as an actor, performer or model, through an agency? Are you a hirer employing children through an agency?

If so, you would be advised to check who applied for the licence required for the child - or children - to be employed in the entertainment and modelling industries. It may be that, if you are a parent, your youngster has been working illegally or as a hirer you are employing children illegally. Either way, you could face prosecution.

I have acquired literature from various agencies wherein it states that the firm will apply for a licence for the child to be employed, with at least one such agency having a ‘licensing manager’. Under the child performance regulations, the application for a licence to employ a child as an actor/entertainer must be made by “the person responsible for the production in which the child is to take part”. In the case of a model it must be made by “the person who proposes to engage the child as a model”.

Acting/model agencies are not responsible for the productions concerned, nor are they the ones who engage child models. They cannot apply for a licence to employ the child. If any agency does apply for the licence, it will be invalid and the child will be working illegally. In a number of case, the agency is charging the parent or the hirer a fee for obtaining a licence. Any such charge made by the agency is illegal.

I am not aware of the extent of this situation but am of the consequences - in that the parent, hirer and the agency all face being fined up to £1,000 or imprisoned for three months, or both. It is essential that, where you are getting your child employment through an agency or hiring a child through an agency, you ensure that the licence application for your child or the child you are hiring to perform or take part in a modelling assignment has been made by the hirer and not by the agency.

Ray Hoppkrofft

Modelling Information Service

Barker Street

Todmorden

West Yorkshire