What age can you

A guide to some of the things you can do when you reach the following ages

At 12 years old            At 13 years old             At 14 years old

At 15 years old            At 16 years old           At 17 years old

At 18 years old            At 19 years old           At 21 years old

At 12 years old

• You can buy a pet
• You can see a 12 rated film

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At 13 years old

• You can work part-time - but only in certain jobs and conditions

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At 14 years old

• You are responsible for wearing a seat belt
• You can drive a tractor on farmland
• You can ride a horse on the road without wearing a riding hat

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At 15 years old

• You can see a 15 or PG film at the cinema
• You can open a Giro account (with an adult to guarantee it)
• You can be sent to youth custody
• You can possess a shotgun certificate

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At 16 years old

• You can leave school
• You can have a full time job if you have officially left school - you can't work full time until the last Friday in June, even if you have turned 16 before this.
• You can sell scrap metal
• You can become a street-trader
• You can leave home (with your parents or guardians permission)
• You can get married (with your parents or guardians permission)
• You can apply for your own passport
• You can claim social security benefits in your own right
• You can join a trade union
• You can get a National Insurance Number
• You can choose your own doctor
• You can consent to or refuse dental or medical treatment
• You have to pay for prescriptions (except in certain circumstances)
• You can go into a pub without an adult (but you cannot buy alcohol)
• You can buy liqueur chocolates
• You can have consenting sex (including homosexual sex) if you and your partner are both over 16
• You can buy the morning after pill
• You can drink beer, wine or cider whilst eating a meal in a restaurant or an eating area of a pub, but not in the bar (and you must be accompanied by someone over 18)
• You can bet on the football pools
• You can buy lottery tickets and scratch cards
• You can buy premium bonds
• You can buy aerosol paints
• You can buy cigarettes and tobacco
• You can join the armed forces with your parents or guardians permission (if you're a boy)
• You can open an ISA (Individual Savings Account)
• You have to pay adult price for bus or train tickets (some places have concessions for school students)
• You can take your driving test (if you're disabled)
• You can drive a moped/scooter (up to 50 cc), an invalid carriage and some tractors
• You can fly solo in a glider
• You can apply for Legal Aid, advice and assistance

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At 17 years old

• You can join the armed forces with your parents or guardians permission (if you're a girl)
• You can join the TA with your parents permission
• You can give blood
• You can be interviewed by the police with no adult present
• You can be tried before an adult court and sent to prison or fined up to £2,000
• You can engage in street trading
• You can purchase an air rifle
• You can buy or hire a crossbow, gun and ammunition
• You can hold a licence to drive most vehicles (except certain heavy ones)
• You can take your driving test
• You can buy a car or motorcycle
• You can drive a motorcycle, car, van or tractor on the road
• You can pilot a plane
• You can apply for a helicopter pilot's licence
• You can emigrate
• A care order can no longer be made on you
• You can go into a betting shop (but not bet)

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At 18 years old

• You are legally seen as an  adult in the eyes of the law
• You can appear before adult courts
• You can be called to serve on a jury
• You can sue or be sued
• You can vote in elections
• You can become an organ donor
• You can leave home without parental permission
• You can get married without parental permission
• You can apply for a passport without parental permission
• You can ask to see your birth certificate if you are adopted
• You can change your name
• You can make a will
• You can act as executor of a person's will
• you can place a bet
• You can have a tattoo
• You can open a bank account in your name without a parent or guardian's signature
• You can apply for loans and credit cards
• You can apply for a mortgage
• You can own a house or land
• You can sign/enter into a binding contract
• You can see an 18 rated film in the cinema
• You can buy or rent an 18 DVD or video
• You can buy fireworks
• You can buy alcohol
• You can buy and drink alcohol in a pub
• You can hold a licence to sell alcohol
• You can join any of the armed forces without the permission of your parent/guardian
• You can work in a pub
• You are entitled to a minimum wage - £4.10 per hour from October 2004 (which will change in October 2005)
• You can go abroad to sing, play or perform professionally
• You can go into a sex shop
• You can pawn things at a pawn shop

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At 19 years old

• You are entitled to free, full-time school education up to the age of 19
• You must now pay for dental treatment (if you are in full-time employment) and prescriptions, but you can apply to be exempt if you are on a low income.

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At 21 years old

• You can adopt a child
• You can supervise a learner driver (subject to certain conditions)

• You can drive any mechanically-propelled vehicle
• You can apply for a flight navigator's or engineer's licence or an airline transport pilot's licence
• You can stand in a parliamentary or local election
• You can run a pub

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More information at the Connexions website:
http://www.connexions-direct.com - look on the Your rights link