05/07/2024. London, United Kingdom.Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood. poses for a photograph following her appointment to Cabinet by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street. Picture by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street
By Willy Okonji,
The United Kingdom has made it a criminal offence, punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment, to keep a child abroad beyond an agreed period without the required consent.
The offence, which took effect on Friday, November 6, applies to a parent or any person connected with a child under 16 who keeps the child outside the UK without consent, even where the child was initially taken abroad lawfully.
Section 137 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduced the provision by amending the Child Abduction Act 1984, closing what the government described as a longstanding gap in the country’s child abduction laws.
A circular issued by the Ministry of Justice’s Criminal Law Policy Unit said the amendment targets situations in which a child is taken abroad with permission but is subsequently detained beyond the authorised period.
“Under new section 1(1A) of the Child Abduction Act 1984, a person connected with a child under the age of sixteen commits an offence if the child is taken or sent out of the UK with the appropriate consent and, at any time after the child is taken or sent, the person detains the child outside the UK without the appropriate consent,” the circular stated.
It said the change ensures the law applies consistently to both the unlawful removal of children from the country and their wrongful detention abroad after a lawful departure.
The circular traced the gap to the High Court’s 2012 decision in R (Nicolaou) v Redbridge Magistrates’ Court. Following that ruling, a parent who took a child abroad with the consent of the other parent, or with a court’s permission, could not be prosecuted under section 1 of the 1984 Act for keeping the child beyond the agreed period.
The Law Commission later examined the issue in its 2014 report, Simplification of the Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences, and recommended that parental child retention be criminalised.
Under the law, appropriate consent generally means the permission of all persons with parental responsibility for the child or, where required, authorisation from a court.
The legislation, however, provides exceptions. A person named in a child arrangements order as the one with whom the child is to live may keep the child abroad for less than one month without committing the offence. A special guardian may do so for less than three months. Neither exception applies where the detention breaches an order made under Part II of the Children Act 1989.
The circular added that the amendment applies only to cases in which the child was taken or sent out of the UK on or after November 6, 2026.
On domestic abuse, the government acknowledged the complexities such cases can present, stressing that the new offence “is not intended to cut across civil measures.” It said victims would continue to benefit from existing protections, including refuges, safe accommodation, protective injunctions and safeguards under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
According to the Ministry of Justice’s equality impact assessment, the offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment on indictment, and prosecution requires the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The government said the offence would complement, rather than replace, existing civil remedies and custody arrangements, adding that it expects most international parental child abduction disputes to continue to be handled through civil proceedings, including applications under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
