Scope: This guide is for approved chaperones in England and the production colleagues working alongside them. It covers children working under an individual performance or activity licence issued by an English local authority. Other licence routes, and the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, need their own checks. This is general information, not legal advice.
You arrive and find that the children’s changing space is a corner of a busy dressing room. Is a screen enough? The honest answer is that no single item settles it: you need to check the approved arrangements, the children using them and whether privacy and supervision will work together.
The legal starting point
Regulation 17 of the Children (Performances and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014 requires the licensing authority to approve any place where the child will perform, rehearse or take part in a licensed activity. Before approving it, the authority must be satisfied about suitable arrangements for dressing, meals, rest and recreation, suitable and sufficient toilets and washing facilities, and protection against inclement weather.
The assessment takes account of the child’s age and the nature, time and duration of the performance, rehearsal or activity. Regulation 17(4) adds a specific requirement: changing arrangements for a child who has reached five are not suitable unless the child can dress only with children of the same sex. That means from the fifth birthday, not after the child turns six.
Start with the approved arrangement, not the room label
A door marked “children’s dressing room” is a useful sign, but it does not explain how the room will be used. Ask the licence holder which space has been agreed, who else uses it and whether any conditions affect changing arrangements. Look at the actual layout before children begin changing, rather than relying on a description from an earlier visit.
Under regulation 17(3), the licensing authority may attach conditions it considers necessary to its approval. If a room has been replaced, divided or repurposed, ask the licence holder to establish whether the new arrangement remains within that approval. Your practical check is important, but it does not replace the council’s decision.
Apply the age rule without losing sight of the child
The five-year threshold is a legal starting point, not a complete privacy plan. The general suitability test still applies to younger children, and children sharing a permitted space may have very different needs. As good practice, discuss any additional privacy, access or assistance needs privately with the parent and relevant production contact before the first change.
Do not try to settle a difficult individual arrangement by guessing what the regulation allows. Explain the practical concern to the licence holder and seek the licensing authority’s advice where necessary. Agreeing a workable arrangement in advance is better than asking a child to explain something personal in front of the costume team or other performers.
Check access as carefully as the changing space
Walk the route a child will actually use. As practical checks, look at whether an opening door exposes the changing area, whether people pass through to reach another room, and whether costumes or equipment obstruct the route. A screen may help with privacy, but its position and the movement around it matter as much as its presence.
Agree who needs access and how they will announce themselves before entering. Explain the arrangement simply to the child, including where to wait and how to ask for help. These are good-practice ways of applying the suitability requirement, not extra room specifications quoted from the Regulations; our guide to a first costume fitting covers preparation for that separate appointment.
Keep supervision clear during costume changes
Regulation 15 describes the approved chaperone’s role as having care and control and safeguarding, supporting and promoting the child’s wellbeing. It also requires the approving authority to be satisfied that duties towards other children will not prevent proper care. A wardrobe colleague helping with a fastening does not, by itself, establish a change in the child’s supervision arrangements.
Agree who is responsible while children move between holding, changing and the performance area, particularly when the group splits. Plan privacy and supervision together rather than treating either as something to abandon when the schedule becomes tight. Our care and control guide explains that wider responsibility.
Recheck quick changes and late alterations
A quick change at the side of the stage needs a practical plan too. Ask where it happens, who helps, who can see the area and how the child reaches it. Do not assume that an arrangement which works in a quiet rehearsal will still work when performers, crew and equipment are moving around it.
If the space becomes unsuitable or a child says they feel exposed, pause the change and raise the issue with the licence holder. Describe what needs resolving rather than making the child defend their discomfort. Where the solution affects an approved arrangement or a condition is unclear, get that checked with the licensing authority before using the replacement.
A simple example
A child is due to change in a room which has become a route for crew carrying equipment. The chaperone spots that the screen leaves the child visible whenever the door opens and pauses the change. The licence holder arranges an alternative, checks it against the approval and any conditions, and seeks council advice if needed before the child uses it.
A short pre-call check
Before the call, confirm the changing space, its users, access arrangements, supervision and any licence conditions. Then check that the child knows how to ask for help. For fuller context, the Department for Education’s published advice explains the England framework; its section 3.5 covers premises approval, but the advice has no statutory force and does not replace the Regulations or your council’s instructions.