The United Kingdom has introduced a new law making it a criminal offence for parents or other people connected to a child under 16 to keep the child outside the country beyond an agreed period without proper consent.
Anyone found guilty of the offence could face up to seven years in prison.
The new law took effect on Friday, November 6, under Section 137 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026. It amends the Child Abduction Act of 1984 to close a gap in existing laws on child abduction.
A circular released on Friday by the Ministry of Justice's Criminal Law Policy Unit explained that the amendment was introduced to address cases where children were initially taken abroad with permission but later kept there beyond the agreed period.
The circular stated, “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 amendment is intended to ensure that the law covers both the unlawful removal of children from the UK and situations where they are kept abroad without permission after being taken out of the country legally.
The Ministry of Justice said the change followed a gap identified in a 2012 High Court ruling in the case of R Nicolaou vs Redbridge Magistrates' Court.
In that case, the court ruled that the phrase “takes or sends” in the existing law covered taking a child out of the UK but did not include keeping the child abroad beyond the agreed period.
This meant that a parent who initially took a child abroad with the consent of the other parent or court could not be prosecuted under the law for refusing to return the child at the agreed time.
The circular stated, “As a result, where a parent had taken a child abroad lawfully, for example, with consent from the other parent or person with similar responsibility, or with the court’s permission, it was not an offence under section 1 of the 1984 Act to detain the child abroad beyond the agreed or authorised period.”
The Law Commission later examined the issue in its 2014 report, Simplification of the Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences, and recommended changes to make keeping a child abroad without permission a criminal offence.
The Ministry of Justice said the new provision would close the legal gap and strengthen the country's response to international parental child abduction.
Under the new law, proper consent generally requires permission from everyone with parental responsibility for the child or approval from a court where necessary.
However, the legislation provides some exceptions.
“The Government recognises the complexities that can arise in cases involving domestic abuse and is clear that the new offence is not intended to cut across civil measures,” the circular stated.
It added that people experiencing domestic abuse would continue to have access to existing protections, including refuges, safe accommodation, protective injunctions and safeguards under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
UK makes keeping children abroad without consent criminal offence