Looked after child meaning

In this issue: Governance Planning Social housing Children’s social care Social care Healthcare Education Environmental law and climate change Local government finance Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Governance Equality Act 2010 provisions refer to biological sex, regardless of gender recognition certificate (For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) The Supreme Court ruled that, within the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), the words ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ denote biological sex. Treating the relevant provisions as embracing ‘certificated sex’ by virtue of a gender recognition certificate (GRC) would render them incoherent and unworkable, and thus cannot be done. For sex discrimination claims, an individual has the protected characteristic of biological sex only. The relevant parts of the EqA 2010 fall within section 9(3) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004), and so displace the section 9(1) rule that a person with a GRC is, for all purposes, of the acquired...

Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, G (by his Children’s Guardian) and A Hospital Trust [2025] EWHC 1974 (Fam) What are the practical implications of this case? The practical implications are: A clear reminder that the child’s age is critical. Here, the child was 17, so the local authority could not seek a care order or interim care order under section 31(3) of the Children Act 1989. Although an emergency protection order was theoretically available, its brief duration and limited relevance to these facts meant it was not the answer; the authority’s sole viable course was to ask the court for permission to invoke the inherent jurisdiction. Affirms that a local authority cannot rely on a deprivation of liberty order to force a looked-after child to accept its preferred accommodation or placement. While the court recognised that section 20(6) of the Children Act 1989 does not entitle a looked-after child to dictate where they are placed, their wishes and feelings about any...

In this issue: Local government finance Governance Social housing Education Children's social care Adult social care Public procurement Planning Healthcare Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Local government finance MHCLG confirms £78bn final local government finance settlement with fairer funding reforms The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a £78bn Final Local Government Finance Settlement, alongside a £440m Recovery Grant boost to support the councils facing the greatest pressures, addressing deprivation and enhancing local services. The package offers multi-year certainty and features measures including writing off 90% of historic SEND deficits, a £272m increase for homelessness services, and £39.6m in mayoral capacity funding to protect people at risk of homelessness and improve local outcomes. Using an evidence-led approach, drawing on the latest indices of multiple deprivation, MHCLG says the reforms will direct a fair share to communities most affected by past reductions. See: LNB News 10/02/2026...

Note This Practice Note addresses the law currently applying in England. In Wales, the position is governed by the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 together with the relevant statutory instruments. For Welsh guidance, see the following Practice Notes: Local authority powers and duties to provide accommodation for children in Wales Local authority duties to looked after children in Wales Local authority duties to children in Wales—child protection NB: this Practice Note also cites earlier legislation and statutory guidance, as certain linked materials give useful background and include templates that continue to be used during pre-proceedings. The Public Law Outline (PLO) originated in 2008 as part of reforms to care proceedings. It was subsequently updated by the PLO 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014, which introduced a 26-week limit for completing care and supervision proceedings. See Practice Note: Public law children procedure—Public Law Outline. These changes place greater weight on work undertaken before proceedings commence. Providing support and...

Practice Note This Practice Note sets out a high-level summary of the principal legislation and processes for placing looked after children with a connected person acting as a foster carer. It explains: who qualifies as a connected person; the steps for arranging a placement with a connected person; the assessment route for approving a connected person as a foster carer, including interim approval; the approach to reviewing any approval; and frequent mistakes when carrying out assessments. Please note, the material here reflects the current position in England. In Wales, this field is governed by the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and associated statutory instruments. For more detail on children’s social care in Wales, consult the following Practice Notes: Local authority powers and duties to provide accommodation for children in Wales, Local authority duties to looked after children in Wales and Local authority duties to children in Wales—child protection...

Practice Note Please note that this Practice Note addresses the law as it presently applies in England. In Wales, the legal position is governed by the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 together with its associated statutory instruments. For further reading and detail, see the Practice Note: Local authority duties to looked after children in Wales. This Note aims to support practitioners in understanding local authority obligations towards children and young people who may qualify for advice and assistance, i.e. relevant children. The material will be of use to practitioners who: act on behalf of local authorities represent parents or guardians in care proceedings involving a child aged 16 or 17 advise looked after young people about the duties owed to them by the local authority advise on, or prepare for, judicial review of a local authority for failing to fulfil their duties under the different legislation The initial task is to determine whether a child or young...

This overview offers general information about public law applications concerning children. Your family solicitor can give tailored guidance for your situation. When a local authority is worried about a child’s wellbeing and steps in within a family, the court can make a range of orders. This guide sets out a concise outline of those orders. It offers general guidance; your family lawyer can give specific advice for your circumstances as to your needs. About care proceedings ‘Care proceedings’ describes the legal route by which a local authority asks the court to permit it to take a young person into its care. Children are only ‘looked after’ by a local authority if the court is satisfied that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm due to the care given by parents or carers, or is beyond a parent or carer’s control. What is an interim care order? This is typically the initial stage in court proceedings where social workers have become seriously concerned about...

Letter of wishes regarding [ trust name ] [ date ] To the trustees of [ insert trust name ] dated [ insert date OR of today’s date ] (the Trust). I am writing to outline my preferences in relation to the Trust. These reflect my wishes alone and place no legal duty upon you. Please regard my children ([ currently ] [ names of children ]) as the principal beneficiaries. My intention is that they receive equal benefit; however, where there is a genuine difference in their personal financial positions, I ask you to consider carefully whether varying levels of provision would be more suitable for their individual needs. Kindly also consider whether support for any child of mine should instead be provided to their children, having regard to all relevant factors (including fiscal considerations) as they appear at the time. AND/OR My overriding concern is that my children are properly looked after throughout their lifetimes, and you...

This Q&A concerns the ongoing statutory obligations owed by a local authority to former relevant children, as provided for in sections 23A–24B of the Children Act 1989 (ChA 1989). Local authority duties to a former relevant child A former relevant child means someone who previously qualified as a relevant child and has reached 18 years of age. For clarification on what counts as a relevant child in this context, consult the detailed section titled ‘The relevant child’ within the Practice Note: Local authority duties for advice and assistance for certain children and young persons...