Apply for a body of persons licence

Apply for a body of persons licence for school age children, what you'll need to apply and what's allowed under a body of persons licence.

A body of persons licence allows children to perform in amateur productions without a child performance licence.

The licence is only issued to a group of responsible adults such as a youth organisation, amateur dramatics club or church.

Children must always be supervised by a licensed chaperone who's allowed to look after a maximum of 12 children.

The licence is only valid for a single production.

You'll need to complete three documents:

Before you apply

You'll need the:

  • venues and dates of performances
  • details of the licensed chaperones at the performance

We are currently asking for the following Confirmation Information as COVID is still prevalent in the community.

  • Do you have any Risk Assessments in place for the safeguarding of children / chaperones as COVID is still prevalent in the community? If so has the Parent / Chaperone seen a copy and confirm if they are happy with the safeguarding measures in place for this production -  please can you supply us with a copy of your Risk Assessment when submitting your application 
  • Please can you confirm the Health Declaration for the children is up to date for this performance 
  • Does the Venue building have any Risk Assessments / Safeguarding measures in place with which your performance is to comply with? 
  • Confirmation of the Name(s) of any Designated Person(s) overseeing the Safeguarding / Risk assessments for this production. 

If you can complete the new forms and submit any request (10 days before the show) along with the information response in the body of your emailed request.

Further information:

After you apply

You must keep records of each young person who performs for 6 months after the last performance. You should submit these to the Child Employment office.

Under a body of persons licence a child can only perform if they:

  • receive no payment
  • don't take time off from school for a performance
  • perform fewer than six days out of seven, or five days if there is a mix of rehearsals and performances
  • don't take part in a performance that lasts for more than 3 hours and 30 minutes or perform for more than 2 hours and 30 minutes
  • don't take part in more than two performances, or one performance and one rehearsal in a day
  • take a break of 1 hour and 30 minutes between two performances or rehearsals on the same day. This break can be reduced to 45 minutes on two days a week as long as the child is not at the place of performance for more than 6 hours
  • have a break of 14 hours between each day they perform and / or rehearse
  • perform between 10am and 10pm if they are under 13 years old, or between 10am and 10:30pm if they are older than 13

Young people must also be supervised by a licensed chaperone who's allowed to look after a maximum of 12 children.

Contact us

Telephone: Child Employment office on 01473 265195

Email: childemployment@suffolk.gov.uk

Address:

Child Employment Office
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2BX

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