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What is parental responsibility?

While the law does not define in detail what parental responsibility is, the following list sets out the key roles:

• providing a home for the child
• protecting and maintaining the child
• disciplining the child
• choosing and providing for the child's education
• determining the religion of the child
• agreeing to the child's medical treatment
• naming the child and agreeing to any change of the child's name
• accompanying the child outside the UK and agreeing to the child's emigration, should the issue arise
• being responsible for the child's property
• appointing a guardian for the child, if necessary
• allowing confidential information about the child to be disclosed

When a non-resident parent has parental responsibility, it doesn't give them an absolute right to have contact with the child. Also, the resident parent doesn't have to consult the other parent on a day-to-day basis about the child’s upbringing. However, the resident parent is expected to keep the non-resident parent informed about the child’s well-being and general progress.

Who has parental responsibility?

A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth. However, the conditions for fathers gaining parental responsibility varies throughout the UK.

For births registered in England and Wales

In England and Wales, if the parents of a child are married to each other at the time of the birth, or if they have jointly adopted a child, then they both have parental responsibility. Parents do not lose parental responsibility if they divorce, and this applies to both the resident and the non-resident parent.

This is not automatically the case for unmarried parents. According to current law, a mother always has parental responsibility for her child. A father, however, has this responsibility only if he is married to the mother when the child is born or has acquired legal responsibility for his child through one of these routes:

• (from 1 December 2023) by jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother
• by a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
• by a parental responsibility order, made by a court
• by marrying the mother of the child

Living with the mother, even for a long time, does not give a father parental responsibility. If the parents are not married, parental responsibility does not automatically pass to the natural father if the mother dies - unless he already has parental responsibility.

For births registered in Scotland

From May 2006 a child's mother and father are both given parental responsibility if they register the child's birth together. That means both of their names appear on the child's birth certificate.

For children born in Scotland before May 2006, if the child's mother and father were married to each other (or got married later), then both parents were given parental responsibility. If a child's mother and father were not married, then only the mother was given parental responsibility. A father can still get parental rights and responsibilities if he wants them:

• by marrying the mother
• if the mother agrees, by filling in a form called a Parental Responsibilities and Parental Rights Agreement (PRPRA)
• by asking the court to give them to him
  

For births registered in Northern Ireland

If the parents of a child are married to each other at the time of the child’s birth they will each have parental responsibility for their child.

An unmarried mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child. An unmarried father does not have parental responsibility for his child, but he may get parental responsibility by:

• marrying the child’s mother (provided he lives in Northern Ireland at the time of the marriage)
• entering into a parental responsibility agreement with the child’s mother - to be recognised, the agreement must be in the prescribed form and registered with the Office of Care and Protection in the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast
• asking a court to make a parental responsibility order - this will mean he will be in the same position as a married father and share parental responsibility with the mother
• asking a court to make a residence order in his favour - a parental responsibility order will be made at the same time that a court decides the father is entitled to have the child live with him, and may remain in force even after the residence order ends
• jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother, only for births which have been jointly registered after 15 April 2023

Please note: unlike in England and Wales, joint re-registration of the birth of a child born before April 2002 is not a way to acquire parental responsibility in Northern Ireland.

• Parental responsibility in Scotland - find out more Opens new window

Applying to the courts for parental responsibility

A father can apply to the court to gain parental responsibility. In considering an application from a father, the court will take the following into account:

The court will then decide to accept or reject the application based on what it believes is in the child's best interest.

• Find local courts in England and Wales Opens new window

• Find a local court in Scotland Opens new window

• Find a local court in Northern Ireland Opens new window

More useful links

• Registering life events (government, citizens and rights section)

• Where to get legal advice (government, citizens and rights section)

• Gingerbread - support network for one parent families Opens new window

Useful contacts

• Parents contacts