https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

States:
Obtaining consent

If a school needs parental consent for extra-curricular visits and
activities, a headteacher should seek the consent of the resident
parent. Exceptions to this are when the decision is likely to have a
long-term and significant impact on the child, or the non-resident
parent has requested to be asked for consent in all cases.

If a school considers it necessary or has been asked to seek consent
from both parents, it may wish to assume parental consent has not been
given unless both agree. Such an approach ensures that the school has
treated the views of each parent equally and will help safeguard its
position in terms of exposure to any civil liability if, for example,
the child is injured while on a school trip.

I have searched for the statute these paragraphs rely upon and the
closest I have is the
Child Abduction Act 1984
which requires consent from anyone with PR for lengths of more than one
month outside of the UK.

There is also the:
The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005
which the above article mentions but there are no references to
permission, consent or indeed anything where an education establishment
must solicit permissions from a parent.

Is there any statutory basis for "it may wish to assume parental consent
has not been given unless both agree"? Or is this simply DoE guidance
and good practice. There is a 'may' in that sentence suggesting there is
no legal basis for the claim.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Sun, 13 Jul 2025 13:15:10 +0100, Fredxx <fredxx@spam.invalid> wrote:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

States:
Obtaining consent

If a school needs parental consent for extra-curricular visits and >activities, a headteacher should seek the consent of the resident
parent. Exceptions to this are when the decision is likely to have a >long-term and significant impact on the child, or the non-resident
parent has requested to be asked for consent in all cases.

If a school considers it necessary or has been asked to seek consent
from both parents, it may wish to assume parental consent has not been
given unless both agree. Such an approach ensures that the school has
treated the views of each parent equally and will help safeguard its
position in terms of exposure to any civil liability if, for example,
the child is injured while on a school trip.

[snip]

Is there any statutory basis for "it may wish to assume parental consent
has not been given unless both agree"? Or is this simply DoE guidance
and good practice. There is a 'may' in that sentence suggesting there is
no legal basis for the claim.

I don't think there's any statutory basis for it, other than in the very
rare cases where the legislation you cited is engaged. But, as the guidance says, it will have value in potential civil (not criminal) actions where the question of parental consent is germane to the outcome. So a better question
to ask would be: Is there any case law where lack of dual consent has been a factor in the judgment?

I don't know the answer to that either. But that's where I'd start looking.

Mark

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/07/2025 17:55, Mark Goodge wrote:

On Sun, 13 Jul 2025 13:15:10 +0100, Fredxx <fredxx@spam.invalid> wrote:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

States:
Obtaining consent

If a school needs parental consent for extra-curricular visits and
activities, a headteacher should seek the consent of the resident
parent. Exceptions to this are when the decision is likely to have a
long-term and significant impact on the child, or the non-resident
parent has requested to be asked for consent in all cases.

If a school considers it necessary or has been asked to seek consent
from both parents, it may wish to assume parental consent has not been
given unless both agree. Such an approach ensures that the school has
treated the views of each parent equally and will help safeguard its
position in terms of exposure to any civil liability if, for example,
the child is injured while on a school trip.

[snip]

Is there any statutory basis for "it may wish to assume parental consent
has not been given unless both agree"? Or is this simply DoE guidance
and good practice. There is a 'may' in that sentence suggesting there is
no legal basis for the claim.

I don't think there's any statutory basis for it, other than in the very
rare cases where the legislation you cited is engaged. But, as the guidance says, it will have value in potential civil (not criminal) actions where the question of parental consent is germane to the outcome. So a better question to ask would be: Is there any case law where lack of dual consent has been a factor in the judgment?

I don't know the answer to that either. But that's where I'd start looking.

Thanks for the suggestion. I feel the website is unusually prescriptive
and won't bet the first time a government website is woefully wrong.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 13/07/2025 01:15 PM, Fredxx wrote:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

States:
Obtaining consent

If a school needs parental consent for extra-curricular visits and activities, a headteacher should seek the consent of the resident
parent. Exceptions to this are when the decision is likely to have a long-term and significant impact on the child, or the non-resident
parent has requested to be asked for consent in all cases.

If a school considers it necessary or has been asked to seek consent
from both parents, it may wish to assume parental consent has not been
given unless both agree. Such an approach ensures that the school has
treated the views of each parent equally and will help safeguard its
position in terms of exposure to any civil liability if, for example,
the child is injured while on a school trip.

I have searched for the statute these paragraphs rely upon and the
closest I have is the
Child Abduction Act 1984
which requires consent from anyone with PR for lengths of more than one
month outside of the UK.

There is also the:
The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005
which the above article mentions but there are no references to
permission, consent or indeed anything where an education establishment
must solicit permissions from a parent.

Is there any statutory basis for "it may wish to assume parental consent
has not been given unless both agree"? Or is this simply DoE guidance
and good practice. There is a 'may' in that sentence suggesting there is
no legal basis for the claim.

Even *in* a statute or statutory instrument, the word "may" implies a discretion for the authority applying the rules.

The alternative is to use the word "shall", which means that there is no discretion. The word "shall" effectively means "must" in such a context.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)