Many, but not all, Students and Child students can work. This depends on the type of student sponsor you have. Go to the register of Student sponsors and look at the Sponsor type and Status columns. When you have found your college or university, select the relevant option below to find out if you can work and your maximum working hours.
Always check the information on your immigration document. If it says "No work", you must not work. If you think this is a mistake, you must get it corrected before you take any employment. See how to do this in Errors on 90-day vignette and Errors on BRP.
See Working hours below for information about how to ensure you do not exceed your maximum hours of employment.
You can find full details in these Home Office publications:
An employer's guide to right to work checks
Home Office Student and Child student caseworker guidance
You may work if:
- you are on a study abroad programme, and
- your sponsor is an overseas higher education institution
Go to the register of Student sponsors. Then look for "overseas higher education institution" in the Sponsor type column.
Your working hours are:
- up to 20 hours a week in term time
- full time outside term time, which includes
Always check any limits on work that your university imposes or recommends. It is important that you do not exceed them.
Child students who are under 16 years old are not allowed to work.
You can work if you are a Child student aged 16 or older and your sponsor is an independent school.
You can work:
- up to 10 hours a week in term time
- full time
The situation is different if you have Student (not Child student) permission. You can work only if your independent school is a "Sponsor with a track record". Check the Status column of the register of Student sponsors. For details of your permitted hours of work, see Student sponsor with a track record.
Always check any limits on work that your school imposes or recommends. It is important that you do not exceed them.
If your school does not have a track record, you are not allowed to work in or outside term time. But you might be able to take a work placement as part of your course - see Work placements and internships.
Working hours in term time must not exceed 10 or 20 a week, and you can work full time outside term time.
But always check any limits on work that your university, college or school imposes or recommends. It is important that you do not exceed them.
"Week" means any 7-day period starting on a Monday. Keep detailed records of your working hours. This is especially important if you work irregular hours. It is also important if you have more than one employer including an employer outside the UK. This is because employers may not know about work you do elsewhere. You are responsible for ensuring that you do not exceed your weekly working hours.
"Term time" means the period when your student sponsor expects you to be studying. "Outside term time" means any other time. For example, the period before your course starts and after it ends, and holidays (vacation). You can usually find term dates on your college's website or in your course information. If in doubt, for example you cannot find details of your course term dates on the website or information is contradictory, ask your student sponsor for confirmation before starting full-time work to avoid breaching your work condition, even if it is by accident. If you are a research student, you should ask your faculty, department or supervisor about how "term time" is defined for you - some institutions permit full-time work during agreed holidays or after submission of your viva, others do not. You must provide information about your "term time" to your employer.
Work placements. If you are doing a work placement as part of your course, you can work up to 10 or 20 hours a week in addition to your work placement. For details, see Work placements and internships.
Working hours and pay. Your pay and your hours of work are separate. This means that you can work during a time when you get holiday pay for a different job. This is because only your hours actually working are counted. But check first that your contract allows you to work for another employer.
For example, you have a job in a shop for 20 hours a week. When you are not working in the shop because you are on leave and you are getting holiday pay, you can work up to 20 hours a week in term-time on a short-term contract as a school assistant. Your hours of work must not exceed 20 a week. But you can get holiday pay at the same time as pay for your school assistant work.
For information about holiday pay, see Holiday entitlement: Holiday pay - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The same principle applies to any extra money your employer pays you. Examples include, but are not limited to, back pay, income tax credit after emergency tax, bonus payments, reimbursed expenses, increments for a retrospective pay increase. Extra money you receive for these reasons does not affect the number of hours you have worked or are working. So just enjoy it!
