Government commits to overhauling outdated child performance laws
The Government is reminding amateur groups they don’t need to apply for individual licences for every child for every performance. Instead the local authority can issue an approval to cover all performances for all children, as appropriate to the needs of the amateur group.
New guidance published today makes this clearer and will free up local authorities and amateur groups from unnecessary form filling.
The Government has provided guidance to local authorities and amateur performance groups on how to make greater use of Body of Persons (BOP) approvals. These approvals can be given to amateur groups in order to reduce the administrative requirements involved in licensing children for performances. The guidance is available to download.
This comes as the Government commits to updating the 40-year-old child performance laws, helped by an advisory group that includes amateur theatre groups, production companies, broadcasters, children’s charities and child psychologists. The group will look at whether the amateur sector can be removed from licensing laws altogether in the future.
