Lone Parents Support - Leaving Children at Home Alone

Leaving Children at Home Alone

What the law says

There is no law that states the minimum age that a child can be left alone. However, it is an offence to leave a child alone when doing so puts him or her at risk. How do you decide if you can safely leave a child alone? There are many important things to consider before you decide to leave a child alone. These include:

For example, most parents would think it’s OK to leave a sixteen-year-old alone for the evening, but to leave them for a week would be unacceptable.

Many young children play outdoors with other children without a parent or carer being present. As they are unsupervised, they are 'alone', but most people would agree that this is an important part of growing up.

You are the best judge of your child’s level of maturity and responsibility. A few other points to guide you

Never leave a baby or very young child alone at home, whether asleep or awake, even for a few minutes. It doesn’t take long for unsupervised young children or babies to injure themselves.
Most children under thirteen should not be left for more than a short period.
No child under sixteen should be left overnight.

If you do leave a child alone, remember:

If possible, leave a telephone number where you can be contacted, and be available to answer it immediately.
Talk to your child about keeping safe at home and point out the potential dangers. Tell them not to answer the door to strangers.
Give clear instructions about what to do if there’s an emergency. All children left alone should be able to phone the emergency services.
Leave a list of trusted people they can contact.
Put obvious dangers out of reach of children, e.g. medicines, chemicals, matches, etc...
Make sure that the child is happy about the arrangements and confident about being left.
Tell the child when you’ll be back, and make sure you’re back on time.
Talk to him or her about it afterwards.

Choosing a babysitter- When deciding to use a babysitter remember to:

Follow your instincts - if in doubt don't use them.
Ask for at least two references and contact the referees yourself.
Choose a babysitter over sixteen years old.
Listen to your child. Talk to your child about any issue of babysitting that they are unhappy about.
If your child is unhappy about your use of a particular babysitter, find someone else.
Only use registered childminders. A list of local registered childminders can be found from your local authority children's information service.

This artical can be found on the NSPCC Website [here]

If you need any further advice or information about leaving children alone, contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 at any time.