Please complete and return to:

Child Employment Team

Suffolk County Council

Endeavour House

8 Russell Road

Ipswich

IP1 2BX

Tel No: 01473 265195

Body of Persons Approval Licence Application

The Children (Performance and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014

Name of Production Company
Name of Applicant (including Title)
Position
Address
Contact Telephone Number
Email Address
Performance Title
Location of Performance
(Address)
Dates of Performance
Times of Performance
Dates of Rehearsal(s)
Times of Rehearsals
Place of Rehearsals

Details of Young Persons Taking Part in Performance **Only use this if you do not have access to a computer** (otherwise use spreadsheet for children/chaperone details)

Please photocopy if you need to submit further information

Full Name / Date of Birth
Address
School / Postcode
Full Name / Date of Birth
Address
School / Postcode
Full Name / Date of Birth
Address
School / Postcode
Full Name / Date of Birth
Address
School / Postcode
Full Name / Date of Birth
Address
School / Postcode

Declaration

·  I confirm no absence is required from school for any child involved in the performances and that the child’s education will not suffer by taking part in the performances.

·  I confirm that no payment in respect of taking part in the performance/s, other than for off setting expenses, will be made to any young person or to their representative such as parent or carer.

·  I confirm that “all” of the young people’s parent/carers have confirmed that they are fit and that their health will not suffer by taking part in the performances.

·  I conform that suitable arrangements have been made for the young people to get to and from the place/s of Performance

·  I confirm that the group has clear, robust and well embedded policies for safeguarding children in place – This means Licensed Chaperones or Parents to be named on the spreadsheet/application

Signed Date

(signature required)

Full Name Position in Company


Body of Persons Approval

The Children (Performance and Activities)(England)Regulations 2014

Licence Application Guidance

Background

The Children & Young Persons 1963 gives a local authority under Section 37(3)(b) the power to issue a licence to a ‘body of persons’ approved by the local authority in whose area the performance takes place or, in a few exceptional circumstances, by the Secretary of State. Further details set out below

A Body of Persons Approval can be issued for an organisation (known as a ‘body of persons’) for:

·  A specific performance or for a limited period of time as set out in the approval, to be put on performances involving children

·  The granting of a Body of Persons Approval to an organisation replaces the need to apply for individual licences from each child’s home local authority during the period of approval – as long as the Body of Persons Approval criteria and conditions continue to be fulfilled.

Who can apply?

·  The organisation responsible for putting on the performance, and for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children taking part, must apply.

·  Any type of organisation can apply; it doesn’t matter if they are a professional company, amateur group, stage or broadcast – as long as

No payment (other than expenses) is made for the child to take part

Who can issue a Body of Persons Approval?

·  Body of Persons Approvals are issued by the Local Authority where the performance is taking place

·  The Secretary of State has the power to issue a Body of Persons Approval, but will not generally consider applications. This is because local authorities are better placed to assess arrangements made to safeguard children in local activities, to inspect those arrangements and enforce any requirements or conditions intended to protect the children.

·  The Secretary of State will not consider any applications that do not involve a large number of performances with a large number of children across a significant number of local authority areas.

What needs to be considered?

·  The decision whether to issue a Body of Persons Approval is at the discretion of the local authority (or Secretary of State).

·  The local authority would want assurance that the body had clear, robust and well embedded policies for safeguarding children

·  The Body of Persons Approval does not authorise absence from school for any child involved in the performances.

The holders of the licence must ensure that they keep adequate records of each young person’s performance and these should be submitted to the Child Employment office. Approval can only be granted for young people who perform solely for the holder(s) of the Body of Persons licence.

The Chair person or Secretary of each society are normally the ‘Applicant’ that applies for the Body of Persons Licence and must complete an appropriate application form from the Child Employment Office.

Medicals are not required for each child, but the applicant must declare on the form that the young people are fit and healthy and will not suffer as a result of them having taken part in the performance.

Suffolk County Council grants a ‘Body of Persons’ licence on a strictly ‘Production’ basis, however, the right is reserved to withdraw a licence if it is felt the about conditions are not being met.

Payment

Young people must not receive payment for any performance, except for out of pocket expenses.

Education

Young people who are part of a ‘Body of Persons Approval’ are not individually licensed therefore they are not allowed to take time off from their education for a performance. For this reason no young person must perform or rehearse at a time when they should be in school.

Place of Performance

All performances must be within the jurisdiction of Suffolk County Council.

Supervision

All young people must be safeguarded with the ‘body having clear, robust and well embedded policies for safeguarding children’ in their care for the performance.

Suffolk County Council require Licensed Chaperones or Parents for this Supervision during the Performance

Suffolk County Council may inspect, without prior notice, places of entertainment within the county; most Education authorities have similar policies. Inspections are normally undertaken by County Officers, but it could include a Fire Officer or Health and Safety Inspector. The Officer would make themselves known to the Applicant and/or Chaperone on arrival, and will have identification.

The Safeguarding Officer of the Body should under no circumstances hand any child over to, or let the child be examined by any other person. The only exceptions to this are unless with prior approval of the child’s parent/s, or emergencies, and then under the supervision of a doctor, police officer or other suitable person.

Number of Performances

A young person cannot take part in a Performance on more than six days in any period of seven days.

Length of Time Performing

A young person cannot take part in a Performance on more than six days in any period of seven days.

Permitted Hours for Stage Performance

Age / Earliest Arrival/Start Time / Latest
Birth until child reaches 5 / 7:00am / 10.00pm
5 to school leaving age / 7:00am / 11:00pm

Performances Abroad

A Local Authority does not have the power to authorise young people to perform in another country. Therefore no young person is permitted to go abroad to perform unless a licence has been applied for and granted by a Justice of the Peace sitting at a Magistrates Court within the area that the young person resides in.

Information/Records to be Retained

A record must be kept by the ‘Body of Persons’ applicant on each young person’s performance, for six months after the last performance of each production.

Further Enquiries:

Child Employment Team

Suffolk County Council

Endeavour House

8 Russell Road

Ipswich

IP1 2BX Tel No: 01473 265195 Fax No: 01473 216853