Can you leave a child home alone? The age you can legally leave your kids home alone ahead of summer holidays

• The summer holidays are around the corner with children across the UK preparing for a prolonged period off school.
• For parents this can mean finding childcare for the summer months.
• Some parents may be wondering what age they can leave their children home alone.
• Here is what the NSPCC says about what age you can leave your child home alone.

As children across the UK eagerly await the summer holidays, parents prepare for the struggle of finding childcare.

The long summer holidays are a welcome break from the school term for our kids, but with rising childcare costs it can be an extra strain on the household. Many parents may be considering if they can leave their kids home alone this summer.

However, parents can be prosecuted if they leave a child at home and if it places them at risk. Here’s everything you need to know about the exact age it is legal to leave your child home alone.

What age can you leave your children home alone in the UK?

There is no age in law that states when you can leave a child on their own, the government advises that parents should use their judgement on how mature their child is before they decide to leave them at home or in a car.

Whilst the law does not say an exact age, it is an offence to leave your child home alone if it places them at risk.

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You should never leave a child home alone if they don’t feel ready. Parents who leave a child unsupervised “in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health”, can be prosecuted.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) go into more detail about what ages you should never leave children home alone.

Babies and toddlers

Babies, toddlers and very young children aged 0 to three-years-old, should never be left alone. The NSPCC state that they should never be left alone in the home or in the car for any period of time.

Primary school children

It’s not recommended to leave children under the age of 12 home alone. Children at this age are rarely mature enough to be left alone for a long period of time, are usually too young to walk home from school by themselves, babysit or cook unsupervised.

Secondary school children

Once your child reaches this age the NSPCC recommend having a chat with them about how they’d feel if they were left home alone.

Tips for leaving your child home alone

If you decide to leave your child home alone, it’s important to go over some ground rules beforehand, have discussions about how they will get in contact with you if they need you, what they should do if someone calls, are there any activities that could be dangerous, such as cooking, that they should not do and if they are allowed to have any friends over.

Make agreements on what they will be allowed before leaving them alone for the first time and practise what to do if there is an emergency.

The NSPCC recommend that you should agree a time you will be home, check in with them every now and then and build it up slowly as leaving them home alone can be a big change for your child to adjust to.

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