Guidance

Parental responsibility: children in care of the local authority: caseworker guidance

HM Passport Office guidance on how to deal with an application for a child in the care of the local authorities.

• From: HM Passport Office
• Published: 24 January 2024
• Last updated: 15 May 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 15 May 2026

     Updated to add a new section, Who can consent to cancel a passport for a child in care, to show when social services can authorise the cancellation of a child’s valid passport.

  2. 3 March 2026

     Updated the section 'Scotland: kinship order' to tell the Quality and Examination Support team (QuESt), they must refer any guidance queries about Scottish Kinship orders, where the local authority do not have parental responsibility to the Senior Caseworking team.

  3. 22 October 2025

     Guidance updated as detailed in section 1.3.

  4. 9 October 2024

     This guidance has been updated to make it clear where a child (or young adult) is subject to a full care order the Director of Social Services (or equivalent grade) must give additional written consent in a covering letter if they did not complete the declaration.

  5. 24 January 2024

     First published.

Documents

Children in care of the local authority

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This guidance tells HM Passport Office examiners how to deal with an application for a child in the care of local authorities.