Legislation update

Community Care Inform's legal expert, Ed Mitchell, has provided the latest legislation update for your attention. Please find the details below.

Leaving Care

Local authorities in England have new obligations to pay higher education bursaries to care leavers. As a result of amendments made by s.21 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (which have recently come into force), s.23C of the Children Act 1989 now requires local authorities to pay higher education bursaries to certain care leavers. For further details and links to the regulations which specify the amount of the bursary, see s.23C of the Community Care Inform guide to the Children Act 1989. 

Children's Services

On 12 January 2010, the Secretary of State gained the power to make regulations which set safeguarding targets for children's services authorities in England. On this date, s.195 of the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 came into force and inserted a new section 9A into the Children Act 2004, which contains the Secretary of State's new powers to set statutory safeguarding targets. 

Also on 12 January 2010, schools became tied into Children's Trust arrangements in England. On that date, the list of bodies subject to the duty to co-operate to improve children's well-being under section 10 of the Children Act 2004 was extended to include governing bodies of maintained schools and Further Education Institutions, as well as proprietors of Academies. This extension occurred upon the commencement of s.195 of the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, which amends section 10 of the Children Act 2004. For further details, see section 10 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Children Act 2004.

Private Family Law Orders

There is now a general rule that residence orders last until a child is 18 (rather than 16 as previously). But the general rule does not apply if a court directs that the order should end earlier or another order is made discharging the residence order. This extension of the usual duration of residence orders is a result of amendments made to the Children Act 1989 by s.37 of the Children & Young Persons Act 2008 and which recently came into force. Section 9 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Children Act 1989 has been amended to take account of this change.

The rules on applications for residence orders by a child's relative have been relaxed. As a result of amendments made to the Children Act 1989 by the Children & Young Persons Act 2008, which recently came into force, a child's relative, such as a grandparent, is entitled to apply for a residence order (without obtaining leave of the court) if the child has been living with him/her for a period of at least one year preceding the application. This places relatives in the same position as local authority foster parents. Section 10 of the guide to the Children Act 1989 has been amended to take account of this change. The rules on relatives applying for special guardianship orders have also been changed to the same effect: see section 14A of the guide to the Children Act 1989.