Child Moving to Live with a Grandparent in England: What You Need to Know

A child arriving at your door with a bag of clothes and an uncertain timeline is more common than most people realise. Across England and Wales, more than 141,000 children live in kinship care — with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or older siblings rather than their parents. If this has happened to you, the first few days are a blur of practical questions. Here is what you need to sort out, in roughly the order it matters.

The Legal Position in the First 24 Hours

You do not need a court order to care for a relative's child. Under English law, a close relative (grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or step-parent) can look after a child on an informal basis without notifying the local authority. This is a private family arrangement, not a foster placement.

Section 3(5) of the Children Act 1989 gives you immediate authority to do what is reasonable to safeguard the child's welfare. In the first hours and days, that covers feeding, housing, and comforting the child, getting emergency medical care, and keeping the child safe.

What it does not give you is Parental Responsibility. That remains with the child's mother and (if applicable) father. You cannot make major legal, medical, or educational decisions for the child without their consent or a court order.

Getting a Written Agreement From the Parent

If the parent is cooperative and contactable, the single most useful thing to do early on is get a signed letter delegating day-to-day authority to you under Section 2(9) of the Children Act 1989. This letter covers routine decisions — school communication, GP visits, signing consent forms for day trips — and gives schools and health professionals something concrete to work with.

The letter does not need to be witnessed or notarised, though having an independent witness (a GP, teacher, or solicitor) improves its credibility with institutions that are unfamiliar with informal kinship arrangements.

Registering With a GP

A child living with you needs to be registered at a local GP practice. You can register the child using form GMS1 at any practice whose boundary includes your address. The practice cannot refuse registration because you lack Parental Responsibility, proof of identity, or immigration documents — NHS England guidance is clear on this.

Bring the child's NHS number if you have it (check the personal child health record — the "Red Book" — or ask the parent). If you do not have it, the practice can look it up from the child's name and date of birth. Once the child is registered, the new practice requests the child's records from the previous practice through GP2GP; the carer does not need to contact the old practice.

Getting the Child Into School

If the child was attending a school near their previous address, you will usually need to apply for an in-year transfer to a school near your home. Under Section 576 of the Education Act 1996, anyone with care of a child is treated as a "parent" for education purposes — so you can apply for a school place without a court order.

The application goes to the local authority (or directly to the school if it is its own admissions authority). You will need proof that the child lives at your address: a Child Benefit notification letter, council tax bill, or a letter from the child's social worker or GP can serve this purpose.

If no local school has a place available, ask the local authority whether the child meets one of its Fair Access Protocol eligibility categories. Formal kinship care is an express category; an informal kinship arrangement alone does not guarantee referral.

Private Fostering: Does It Apply?

If you are a close relative — grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or step-parent — the private fostering rules do not apply to you. You do not need to notify the local authority of the arrangement.

If you are a more distant relative (cousin, great-aunt, family friend), and the child is under 16 (or under 18 if disabled), the arrangement is private fostering if the stay lasts, or is intended to last, 28 days or more. Both you and the parent must notify the local authority at least six weeks before a planned arrangement; if the arrangement is made in an emergency, notify the authority within 48 hours of the child's arrival.

Thinking Long-Term

In the first weeks, the informal arrangement works. But if the parent's absence stretches into months or the situation is unlikely to resolve, consider whether a more formal arrangement would give the child — and you — greater security. A Child Arrangements Order naming you as the person with whom the child lives, or a Special Guardianship Order, gives you Parental Responsibility. An SGO may include assessed local-authority financial support; neither order guarantees an allowance. Previously-looked-after admissions priority applies only if the child was in local authority care immediately before the order.

The complete England kinship consent guide covers every step from the first day through to deciding whether a court order is the right move.

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