UK makes it a crime to keep a child abroad without consent

Britain has made it a criminal offence for a parent, or anyone else connected to a child under 16, to keep that child outside the United Kingdom beyond an agreed period without proper consent. The law took effect on Friday, November 6, 2026.

The offence sits in section 137 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which amends the Child Abduction Act 1984. A person convicted could face up to seven years in prison, according to the government's equality impact assessment.

Until now, the law covered taking or sending a child out of the country unlawfully. It did not cover what happened afterwards. A 2012 High Court ruling, in a case involving Redbridge Magistrates' Court, made that gap clear: a parent who left Britain with the other parent's permission, or with a court's approval, could not be prosecuted for simply refusing to bring the child back.

The Law Commission examined the issue in its 2014 report, Simplification of the Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences, and recommended that the law be changed to criminalise parental child retention. The new provision is the government's answer.

A circular from the Ministry of Justice's Criminal Law Policy Unit said the offence now covers both unlawful removal and wrongful retention abroad. It applies where a child was taken or sent out of the UK with consent and is later kept outside the country without it.

Consent here usually means the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility, or a court's permission where one is needed.

Exceptions and safeguards

The law carves out limited exceptions. A person named in a child arrangements order as the person the child is to live with may keep the child abroad for under one month without consent. A special guardian may do so for under three months. Neither exception holds where keeping the child abroad would breach an order under Part II of the Children Act 1989.

The government also addressed domestic abuse concerns. It said the new offence is not meant to override civil protections, and that victims keep access to refuges, safe accommodation, protective injunctions and safeguards under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Prosecutions need the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The government expects most cross-border parental disputes to stay in the civil courts, including cases under the 1980 Hague Convention on international child abduction.

The change only covers children taken or sent out of the UK on or after November 6, 2026.

What happens next

The government expects most international parental child abduction disputes to continue to be handled through civil proceedings rather than criminal ones. Families caught in such disputes should seek legal advice early, since the offence applies only where a child was taken or sent out of the UK on or after November 6, 2026.