What can I do when I’m...?

A guide to the exciting, useful and downright weird 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 rather silly not to wear a hat!)

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 if you want to. This is the law in England, Scotland and Wales.
Have gay sex in private, so long as you’re both 16 or over.
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, scratchcards 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

Become an MP or local councillor
Run a pub
Drive a lorry or a bus