Shops Act 1912
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1912 c. 3 |
Shops Act, 1912
(2 & 3 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 3.
An Act to consolidate the Shops Regulation Acts, 1892 to 1911.
[29th March 1912]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Conditions of Employment.
1 Hours of employment and meal times.
(1) On at least one week day in each week a shop assistant shall not be employed about the business of a shop after half-past one o'clock in the afternoon:
Provided that this provision shall not apply to the week preceding a bank holiday if the shop assistant is not employed on the bank holiday, and if on one week day in the following week in addition to the bank holiday the employment of the shop assistant ceases not later than half-past one o'clock in the afternoon.
(2) The occupier of a shop shall fix, and shall specify in a notice in the prescribed form, which must be affixed in the shop in such manner and at such time as may be prescribed, the day of the week on which his shop assistants are not employed after half-past one o'clock, and may fix different days for different shop assistants.
(3) Intervals for meals shall be allowed to each shop assistant in accordance with the First Schedule to this Act:
Provided that this provision shall not apply to a shop if the only persons employed as shop assistants are members of the family of the occupier of the shop, maintained by him and dwelling in his house.
(4) In the case of any contravention of, or failure to comply with, the provisions of this section, the occupier of the shop shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding—
(a ) in the case of a first offence, one pound;
(b ) in the case of a second offence, five pounds; and
(c ) in the case of a third or subsequent offence, ten pounds—
unless, in the case of a shop assistant employed after half-past one o'clock in contravention of this section, he proves that the shop assistant was employed merely for the purpose of serving a customer whom he was serving at that time, or, where the time of the closing of the shop was also half-past one o'clock, that the shop assistant was employed merely for the purpose of serving customers who were in the shop at that time.
2 Hours of employment of young persons.
(1) No person under the age of eighteen years (in this Act referred to as a ‘young person’) shall be employed in or about a shop for a longer period than seventy-four hours, including meal times, in any one week.
(2) No young person shall, to the knowledge of the occupier of the shop, be employed in or about a shop—
(a ) having been previously on the same day employed in any factory or workshop, as defined by the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901 , for the number of hours permitted by that Act; or
(b ) for a longer period than will, together with the time during which he has been previously employed on the same day in a factory or workshop, complete such number of hours as aforesaid.
(3) In every shop in which a young person is employed a notice shall be kept exhibited by the occupier of the shop in a conspicuous place referring to the provisions of this section and stating the number of hours in the week during which a young person may lawfully be employed in or about the shop.
(4) Where a young person is employed in or about a shop contrary to the provisions of this section, the occupier of the shop shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and liable to a fine not exceeding one pound, or, where more than one young person is so employed, one pound for each young person, and, if the occupier of a shop fails to comply with the provisions of this section with respect to notices, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and liable to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
(5) This section shall apply to wholesale shops, and to warehouses in which assistants are employed for hire, in like manner as if they were shops within the meaning of this Act, and the provisions of sections thirteen and fourteen of this Act shall, for the purposes of the enforcement of this section, be construed accordingly.
(6) This section shall not apply to any person wholly employed as a domestic servant.
3 Seats for female shop-assistants.
(1) In all rooms of a shop where female shop-assistants are employed in the serving of customers, the occupier of the shop shall provide seats behind the counter, or in such other position as may be suitable for the purpose, and such seats shall be in the proportion of not less than one seat to every three female shop-assistants employed in each room.
(2) Any person failing to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and liable for a first offence to a fine not exceeding three pounds, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not less than one pound and not exceeding five pounds.
Closing of Shops.
4 Closing of shops on weekly half-holiday.
(1) Every shop shall, save as otherwise provided by this Act, be closed for the serving of customers not later than one o'clock in the afternoon on one week day in every week.
(2) The local authority may, by order, fix the day on which a shop is to be so closed (in this Act referred to as ‘the weekly half-holiday’), and any such order may either fix the same day for all shops, or may fix—
(a ) different days for different classes of shops; or
(b ) different days for different parts of the district; or
(c ) different days for different periods of the year:
Provided that—
(i) where the day fixed is a day other than Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling Saturday to be substituted for such other day; and
(ii) where the day fixed is Saturday, the order shall provide for enabling some other day specified in the order to be substituted for Saturday;
as respects any shop in which notice to that effect is affixed by the occupier, and that no such order shall be made unless the local authority, after making such inquiry as may be prescribed, are satisfied that the occupiers of a majority of each of the several classes of shops affected by the order approve the order.
(3) Unless and until such an order is made affecting a shop, the weekly half-holiday as respects the shop shall be such day as the occupier may specify in a notice affixed in the shop, but it shall not be lawful for the occupier of the shop to change the day oftener than once in any period of three months.
(4) Where the local authority have reason to believe that a majority of the occupiers of shops of any particular class in any area are in favour of being exempted from the provisions of this section, either wholly or by fixing as the closing hour instead of one o'clock some other hour not later than two o'clock, the local authority, unless they consider that the area in question is unreasonably small, shall take steps to ascertain the wishes of such occupiers, and, if they are satisfied that a majority of the occupiers of such shops are in favour of the exemption, or, in the case of a vote being taken, that at least one half of the votes recorded by the occupiers of shops within the area of the class in question are in favour of the exemption, the local authority shall make an order exempting the shops of that class within the area from the provisions of this section either wholly or to such extent as aforesaid.
(5) Where a shop is closed during the whole day on the occasion of a bank holiday, and that day is not the day fixed for the weekly half-holiday, it shall be lawful for the occupier of the shop to keep the shop open for the serving of customers after the hour at which it is required under this section to be closed either on the half-holiday immediately preceding, or on the half-holiday immediately succeeding, the bank holiday.
(6) This section shall not apply to any shop in which the only trade or business carried on is trade or business of any of the classes mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act, but the local authority may, by order made and revocable in the manner hereinafter provided with respect to closing orders, extend the provisions of this section to shops of any class exempted under this provision if satisfied that the occupiers of at least two-thirds of the shops of that class approve the order.
(7) In the case of any contravention of or failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section, the occupier of the shop shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding—
(a ) in the case of a first offence, one pound;
(b ) in the case of a second offence, five pounds; and
(c ) in the case of a third or subsequent offence, ten pounds:
Provided that the occupier of a shop shall not be guilty of an offence against this Act when a customer is served at any time at which the shop is required to be closed under this section if he proves either that the customer was in the shop before the time when the shop was required to be closed, or that there was reasonable ground for believing that the article supplied to the customer was required in the case of illness.
(8) Nothing in this section shall prevent customers from being served at a time when the shop in which they are sold is required to be closed with victuals, stores, or other necessaries for a ship, on her arrival at or immediately before her departure from a port.
5 Closing orders.
(1) An order (in this Act referred to as ‘a closing order’) made by a local authority, and confirmed by...
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