Phones, privacy and the law in care
Carers making decisions about a child’s phone soon meet legal terms: parental responsibility, delegated authority, Regulation 24, deprivation of liberty, Gillick competence. This guide explains what they mean in plain English, for foster carers and children’s home staff in England. It describes the law. It isn’t legal advice, so for a particular child, check with their social worker, your manager or your legal team.
In this guide
Who decides about a child’s phone
Big decisions about a child belong to the people with parental responsibility: the legal rights and duties a parent has.
Birth parents usually keep parental responsibility when a child comes into care.
Under a care order, the council shares parental responsibility, and can decide how far others may use theirs.
When a child is accommodated by agreement (section 20), the council doesn’t have parental responsibility. The parents keep it.
Foster carers and children’s home staff never have parental responsibility. But anyone caring for a child can do what’s reasonable to keep them safe and promote their welfare.
Special guardians and adoptive parents have parental responsibility too.
Parental responsibility can’t be handed over. Someone who has it can arrange for others to make some decisions on their behalf. That’s what delegated authority does.
The child’s placing authority (the council responsible for the child) plans their care with the child, the people with parental responsibility and their carers. Decisions about a phone, and any rules or protections on it, belong in that plan.
Delegated authority for foster carers
Delegated authority is the set of day-to-day decisions that foster carers are allowed to make without asking each time.
Day-to-day decisions should be delegated to the foster carer, so a child in care can live as normal a family life as possible.
The placement plan must say who decides what. The regulations list matters the plan must cover, and use of social media is one of them. A phone usually sits alongside it.
If the plan doesn’t mention the phone, ask the child’s social worker to add it, and agree the rules before you set it up.
Decide as a reasonable parent would, and record what you decide.
Delegation is reviewed at each review of the child’s care, and should change as the child grows up.
Coming changes: in 2026 the government consulted on new standards for fostering, including one on delegated authority and everyday family life. The outcome hasn’t been published yet, and we’ll update this guide when it is.
A child’s right to privacy
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects everyone’s private and family life, home and correspondence, and that includes a child’s calls and messages. Any interference must have a lawful basis and be necessary and proportionate: no more than is needed to keep the child safe.
The Human Rights Act 1998 applies directly to public bodies such as councils, and to other organisations when they carry out public functions. The same idea runs through the rules for children’s homes and fostering: restrict as little as you can, explain why, record it and review it.
Regulations 22 and 24 in children’s homes
Two of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 matter most for phones.
Regulation 22, contact and access to communications
Children must be able to make and receive phone calls in private at all reasonable times. The government’s guide to the regulations says this can include providing a mobile phone, and that texts and social media count as contact.
A home can only restrict this where it’s necessary to safeguard the child or promote their welfare.
A restriction needs the placing authority’s consent. In an emergency, full details must be given to the placing authority within 24 hours.
Regulation 24, monitoring and surveillance
A home may only use devices to monitor children if:
it’s for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child, or other children
the child’s placing authority agrees in writing
the child is told in advance, as far as their age and understanding allow
it’s no more intrusive than necessary, given the child’s need for privacy
It’s also subject to anything a court orders. The government’s guide adds that a home needs a written policy on monitoring, and the placing authority’s written consent at the time of placement.
In practice: blocking someone’s number restricts a child’s contact, so Regulation 22 applies. Location sharing and alerts are monitoring, so Regulation 24 applies. Agree both in the child’s plan.
How Voop supports each condition of Regulation 24 in children’s homes →
Voop makes both straightforward
Protections are set for each child, with a written reason for every change. Location stays the child’s choice unless they’re reported missing, and a free template covers the placing authority’s consent.
Foster care
The fostering regulations and national minimum standards have no rule like Regulation 24. Instead:
foster carers should respect a child’s privacy in a way that’s consistent with good parenting, and help them stay safe online
if you restrict a child’s contact in an emergency, the child’s council must be told within 24 hours
an ongoing restriction on a child’s communication must be agreed by the child’s council
So agree phone rules, and any monitoring or contact restrictions, with the child’s social worker, and record them in the placement plan.
Deprivation of liberty
Article 5 of the Convention protects a person’s liberty. Depriving a child of their liberty needs legal authority, usually from a court.
In Manchester City Council v CP & Ors (2023), the High Court looked at limits on a 16-year-old’s phone, tablet, laptop and social media. The child was under a care order. The court said:
the limits didn’t, by themselves, restrict her liberty under Article 5
they were an interference with her private life under Article 8, so they had to be necessary and proportionate
under a care order, the council could restrict her devices using its parental responsibility, without going to court, and steps based on evidence of risk are likely to be proportionate
taking a device from a child by physical force is a grave step that would need the court’s approval
New rules on depriving children of liberty, in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, aren’t in force yet.
Consent and Gillick competence
A child who has enough understanding and intelligence to understand a decision can make it for themselves. This is known as Gillick competence, after a 1985 House of Lords case. Whether a child is competent is a question of fact for each decision. A parent can’t override a competent child’s decision, but keeps their own power to consent.
For data, UK GDPR sets 13 as the age at which a child can consent to an online service using their personal data. Below 13, someone with parental responsibility must consent for them. Since April 2026, the government has had the power to raise this age as high as 16, but hasn’t done so yet.
In practice: explain the phone and its protections in a way the child understands, and ask for their agreement before you set it up. Whoever holds parental responsibility should agree too. Tell them they can change their mind. Under UK GDPR, consent has to be freely given, specific and informed, and as easy to withdraw as to give.
Children’s data and the children’s code
The Age Appropriate Design Code (the children’s code), from the UK’s data protection regulator, sets standards for online services used by children. Standard 11 covers parental controls: if a service lets a parent or carer monitor a child’s online activity or see their location, the child should get an obvious sign that it’s happening, and age-appropriate information about it.
Sources
This guide explains the law in England as it stood on 6 November 2026. It’s general information, not legal advice. For decisions about a particular child, talk to their social worker or your own legal adviser.
Show all 16 sources
Questions carers ask
Who has parental responsibility for a child in care?
Birth parents usually keep it. Under a care order the council shares it. When a child is in care by agreement under section 20, the council doesn’t have it. Foster carers and children’s home staff never have parental responsibility, but they can do what’s reasonable to keep the child safe.
Can a foster carer make decisions about a child’s phone?
It depends on what’s been delegated to them. The child’s placement plan must say who decides about matters such as social media. If it doesn’t cover the phone, ask the child’s social worker to add it at the next review.
Does Regulation 24 apply to foster care?
No. Regulation 24 applies to children’s homes in England. In foster care, any ongoing restriction on a child’s communication must be agreed by the child’s council, so agree phone rules and any monitoring with the child’s social worker.
Can a children’s home restrict a child’s phone calls?
Only where it’s necessary to safeguard the child or promote their welfare. Under Regulation 22, the restriction needs the placing authority’s consent, or, in an emergency, full details must be given to them within 24 hours.
Do we need a Deprivation of Liberty order to restrict a child’s phone?
Not usually. In Manchester City Council v CP & Ors (2023), the High Court said limits on a 16-year-old’s phone didn’t, by themselves, restrict her liberty. They were a privacy question, so they had to be necessary and proportionate. Taking a device by force would need the court’s approval.
At what age can a child consent to their own phone protections?
There’s no fixed age. A child who understands the decision can make it for themselves (Gillick competence). For online services, UK GDPR sets 13 as the age a child can consent to their data being used. Whoever holds parental responsibility should agree too.
How Voop fits
Voop is built around these principles:
Before their phone is set up, the child enters a consent-based agreement.
They can see what’s switched on, on their own phone.
Location sharing is their choice, unless they’re reported missing. Then it switches on temporarily, and their phone shows them it’s on.
Every change a carer makes is recorded with a reason.
Voop never reads messages or records calls.
