Is Informal Kinship Care Legal in England?

The question comes up more often than you would expect: is it actually legal for me to be looking after my grandchild, niece, or nephew without a court order? The answer is yes — but the details depend on your relationship to the child and how long the arrangement lasts.

The Short Answer

An informal kinship care arrangement, where a close relative looks after a child by private agreement with the parent, is entirely legal in England. There is no law requiring you to obtain a court order, notify the local authority, or register the arrangement with any official body — provided you are a close relative as defined in law.

The Children Act 1989 recognises that families make their own arrangements for children's care. Parents regularly leave children with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The law treats a longer-term stay under the same framework, with the parent delegating day-to-day care while retaining Parental Responsibility.

Who Counts as a Close Relative?

The legal significance of this question lies in the private fostering rules. Under Section 66 of the Children Act 1989, the following relatives are classified as close relatives and are exempt from private fostering notification:

• Grandparents
• Brothers and sisters (including half-siblings)
• Aunts and uncles
• Step-parents

If you fall into one of these categories, you can care for a relative's child indefinitely without notifying the local authority. The arrangement is a private family matter.

When the Arrangement Becomes Private Fostering

If you are a more distant relative — a cousin, great-aunt, great-uncle, or family friend — the private fostering rules apply. Under the Children Act 1989, if a child under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) is cared for and accommodated by a non-close relative for 28 consecutive days or more, or the arrangement is intended to last that long, it constitutes private fostering. Both the carer and the parent are legally required to notify the local authority.

Private fostering notification does not mean the child is taken into care. It triggers a local authority assessment to ensure the arrangement is suitable, but the child stays with you throughout. The local authority's role is to check on the child's welfare, not to disrupt a working family arrangement.

Your Rights as an Informal Kinship Carer

Even without Parental Responsibility, you have concrete rights and protections:

Section 3(5) authority. You can do what is reasonable to safeguard the child's welfare — covering emergency medical care, routine daily decisions, and basic health appointments.

Education Act Section 576 status. Anyone with care of a child is treated as a "parent" for education purposes. You can apply for school places, attend parents' evenings, and communicate with teachers.

Access to services. You can register the child at a GP practice, apply for free school meals (based on your household income), and access health visiting and school nursing services.

Financial support. You can claim Child Benefit for the child (if the parent agrees to the transfer or is not claiming), apply for Universal Credit with a child element, and access your local authority's Kinship Local Offer.

What You Cannot Do Without PR

The flipside of informality is that certain decisions require Parental Responsibility:

• Consenting to major or elective surgery
• Changing the child's surname
• Taking the child abroad
• Agreeing to adoption
• Permanently withdrawing the child from school

For these decisions, you either need the parent's explicit consent or a court order.

When Informality Becomes Risky

An informal arrangement works well when the parent cooperates and the situation is stable. It becomes risky when the parent is uncontactable, when the parent threatens to remove the child in circumstances that would harm the child, or when the child needs long-term security that only a court order can provide.

The England kinship consent guide covers the full legal framework for informal kinship care, including when and how to formalise the arrangement if the time comes.

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