Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026

13 Use of accommodation for deprivation of liberty

(1) Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (use of accommodation for restricting liberty) is amended as follows.

(2) In the following places, for “restricting” substitute “depriving children of their”—

(a) the heading of the section;

(b) subsection (1).

(3) After subsection (1) insert—

“(1A) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a child who is being looked after by a local authority in England or Wales may not, whilst being kept in relevant accommodation in England, be deprived of their liberty in that accommodation unless it appears—

(a) that—

(i) the child has a history of absconding and is likely to abscond from any other description of accommodation, and

(ii) if the child absconds, the child is likely to suffer significant harm, or

(b) that if the child is kept in any other description of accommodation the child is likely to injure themselves or other persons.

(1B) References in this section to “relevant accommodation” are references to accommodation that—

(a) is provided for the purposes of the care and treatment of children, and

(b) is capable of being used (in whole or in part), in connection with the provision of such care and treatment, for the purpose of depriving children of their liberty.”

(4) In subsection (2)—

(a) in paragraph (a)—

(i) in sub-paragraph (i) after “Scotland” insert “, or be deprived of their liberty in relevant accommodation in England,”;

(ii) in sub-paragraph (ii) after “Scotland” insert “or be deprived of their liberty in relevant accommodation in England”;

(b) in paragraph (b) after “Scotland” insert “, or to be deprived of their liberty in relevant accommodation in England,”.

(5) In subsection (3)—

(a) after “section” insert “in respect of a child being kept in secure accommodation”;

(b) for “a child” substitute “the child”.

(6) After subsection (5) insert—

“(5ZA) Subsections (3) to (5) apply in respect of depriving a child of their liberty in relevant accommodation as they apply in respect of the keeping of a child in secure accommodation.”

(7) In subsection (5A), for “restrict the child’s” substitute “deprive the child of their”.

(8) In subsection (7)—

(a) in paragraph (c) after “Scotland” insert “or be deprived of their liberty in relevant accommodation in England”;

(b) in paragraph (d) after “secure accommodation” insert “or be deprived of their liberty in relevant accommodation”.

(9) After subsection (8) insert—

“(8ZA) For the purposes of this section—

(a) references in subsection (1) to any other description of accommodation do not include relevant accommodation;

(b) references in subsection (1A) to any other description of accommodation do not include secure accommodation.”

(10) In section 104 of the Children Act 1989 (regulations and orders)—

(a) in subsection (3A), after “(3B)” insert “, (3BZA)”;

(b) after subsection (3B) insert—

“(3BZA) Regulations fall within this subsection if they are regulations made in the exercise of the power conferred by section 25(2) or (7).”

(11) In section 93 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “secure accommodation”, omit paragraph (b);

(b) after that definition insert—

• ““secure accommodation”, in relation to England, means secure accommodation within the meaning of section 25 of the Children Act 1989 or relevant accommodation within the meaning of that section;”.

(12) In section 202(1) of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 1) (interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “secure accommodation”, omit paragraph (b);

(b) after that definition insert—

• ““secure accommodation”, in relation to England, means secure accommodation within the meaning of section 25 of the Children Act 1989 or relevant accommodation within the meaning of that section,”.