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Authority for a carer to consent to a child’s medical treatment (England and Wales)
England and Wales · in English · for parents
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For a parent leaving a child with grandparents, a friend, a childminder or another carer: a signed letter arranging for the carer to consent to the child’s medical treatment while the child is with them, and to speak to doctors and dentists. A parent can arrange for someone else to meet part of their parental responsibility (Children Act 1989, s 2(9)) but cannot hand it over. You choose emergency treatment only, or routine care too, and the dates. The carer keeps the letter.
- Made for use in England and Wales
- Last updated October 28, 2026
- Document in English
Where a UK document reproduces the words of legislation or of a government publication — UK, Scottish or Northern Irish — it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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When to use this document
- You are leaving your child with the grandparents in England and want them to be able to take the child to a doctor.
- Your childminder asks what happens if your child is ill or hurt while you are away.
- You are working abroad for a few weeks and your child is staying with friends in Wales.
- You want to give another adult written permission to deal with doctors and dentists for your child.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Parent
- Parent's address
- Town or city
- Parent's postcode
- Phone
- Date
- Carer (the person looking after the child)
- Child's name
- Child's date of birth
- Doctor
- Your relationship to the child (e.g. mother, father, guardian)
- Carer's address, with postcode
- Carer's relationship to the child (e.g. grandparent, childminder)
- Authority starts on
- Valid until
- What the carer may consent to
Common questions
- Do doctors in England and Wales need a letter before treating a child in a carer’s care?
- In an emergency, doctors treat a child to save life or prevent serious harm without waiting for anyone’s consent, and a carer may do what is reasonable to safeguard the child (Children Act 1989, s 3(5)). For anything less urgent, a doctor usually wants consent from someone with parental responsibility or a person acting for them. This letter shows that you arranged it. A school trip uses the school’s own consent form, which is free.
- Can a 16- or 17-year-old consent to their own treatment?
- Yes. A young person aged 16 or 17 can consent to surgical, medical or dental treatment as an adult can (Family Law Reform Act 1969, s 8), so this letter matters less for them. A younger child who fully understands the proposed treatment can also consent, as the House of Lords held in the Gillick case. The carer’s authority still helps the carer to speak to doctors and to act if the young person cannot decide.
- Should I write the child’s allergies and medicines in the authority?
- Keep them on a separate sheet that you hand to the carer with the letter: name any allergies, conditions and medicines, the GP practice and the NHS number if you know it. That way the authority itself carries no health details, and you can update the sheet without signing a new letter. The carer should keep both with the child’s belongings, and take them to any appointment or to the hospital.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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