A guide to the things you can do at:
Baby-sit. (You can do this at any age. It is the parents’ responsibility to make sure you are
capable of it.)
Open a National Savings account or a TSB account, and get money from it
Be found guilty of a crime – if they can prove you knew it was wrong
Be searched, fingerprinted and photographed by the police
Get locked up in a special children’s jail if you’re found guilty of killing
someone
Buy a pet
Be trained to take part in dangerous performances
See a 12-rated film
Work part-time (but only in certain jobs and under various conditions)
Be found guilty of rape or other sex offences
Have an air rifle or pistol
Drive a tractor on farmland
Go into a pub (but you can’t buy any alcohol)
Be found guilty of any crime (though the court system is different)
Ride a horse without a riding hat on the road (but you'd be rather silly not to!)
Open a Giro account (with an adult to guarantee it)
See a 15-rated film
Be sent to a Young Offenders Institution or even prison
Leave school and work full-time (except in a bar, an off-licence or a
betting shop)
Leave home (so long as your parents agree)
Leave home anyway (probably - no one will bother you unless Social
Services think you’re in danger)
Get married (so long as your parents agree)
Join a Trade Union
Have sex with a man – if you’re a girl and you want to. This is the
law in England, Scotland and Wales at the moment. If you’re a bloke, the laws
about having sex with another bloke are changing right now. At the moment it’s
18 but there’s a bill in Parliament at the moment to reduce it to 16.
Buy cigarettes, tobacco, cigarette papers, explosives (like fireworks)
and liqueur chocolates
Drink beer, port, cider or sherry with a meal in the dining area of a pub or
hotel
Buy lottery tickets, scratch-cards and Premium Bonds
Enter and live in a brothel (you can also do this from 0-4, but not from
4-16!) But not to be recommended at any age
Sell scrap metal
Become a street-trader
Drive a moped, an invalid carriage and some tractors
Join the Army / Navy / RAF (if you’re a boy and your parents agree)
Get a National Insurance number
Be used for begging
Fly solo in a glider
Apply for Legal Aid, advice and assistance
Drive a motorcycle, car, van or tractor on the road
Buy or hire a crossbow, gun and ammunition
Fly a plane
Apply for a helicopter pilot’s licence
Be tried for a crime like an adult
Be interviewed by the police with no adults present
Join the Army / Navy / RAF (if you’re a girl and your parents agree)
In Northern Ireland 17 is the legal age of consent for a girl to have sex
with a man
You’re now an adult and can do most things, such as:
vote
marry (whether your parents agree or not)
serve on a jury
make a will
join the Army / Navy / RAF (whether your parents agree or not)
apply for your own passport (whether your parents agree or not)
buy and drink alcohol in a bar
work in a bar
get a tattoo
own land
donate your body and blood to medical science (whatever your parents think.)
place a bet
go into a sex shop
enter into a binding contract
change your name
see an 18 film
pawn things at a pawn shop
have gay sex in private, so long as you’re both 18 or over. (The law
may well change on this shortly.)
Become an MP or local councillor
Run a pub
Drive a lorry or a bus
