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Section 70: Offences.

Children Act 1989 · 1989 c. 41View on legislation.gov.uk

Part IX: PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS FOR FOSTERING CHILDREN

A person shall be guilty of an offence if—

being required, under any provision made by or under this Part, to give any notice or information—
he fails without reasonable excuse to give the notice within the time specified in that provision; or
he fails without reasonable excuse to give the information within a reasonable time; or
he makes, or causes or procures another person to make, any statement in the notice or information which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular;
he refuses to allow a privately fostered child to be visited by a duly authorised officer of a local authority;
he intentionally obstructs another in the exercise of the power conferred by section 67(3);
he contravenes section 68;
he fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any requirement imposed by a local authority under this Part;
he accommodates a privately fostered child in any premises in contravention of a prohibition imposed by a local authority under this Part;
he knowingly causes to be published, or publishes, an advertisement which he knows contravenes paragraph 10 of Schedule 8.

Where a person contravenes section 68(3), he shall not be guilty of an offence under this section if he proves that he did not know, and had no reasonable ground for believing, that any person to whom section 68(1) applied was living or employed in the premises in question.

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(a) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(b), (c) or (g) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(d) or (f) shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.

A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(e) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

If any person who is required, under any provision of this Part, to give a notice fails to give the notice within the time specified in that provision, proceedings for the offence may be brought at any time within six months from the date when evidence of the offence came to the knowledge of the local authority.

Subsection (7) is not affected by anything in section 127(1) of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (time limit for proceedings).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.