The Children and Families Act 2014 overhauled six areas of law in England and Wales: adoption, family court proceedings, special educational needs and disability support, young carers, care leavers, and workplace leave. It set new duties for local authorities, imposed a time limit on care cases, replaced the old statements of special educational needs with Education, Health and Care plans running to age 25, created Shared Parental Leave, and opened the right to request flexible working to every qualifying employee.
What Changed in Adoption
Part 1 of the Act requires local authorities to consider placing a child with prospective adopters who are also approved as foster carers. This “fostering for adoption” route lets a child move in with the likely permanent family while the court finalises its decision, instead of sitting in temporary placements.1legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Part 1
Section 5 gives adoptive parents the right to request a personal budget once a local authority has assessed the family and decided to provide adoption support. The family can ask for a specific sum earmarked for therapeutic services rather than accepting whatever package the council offers.2Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Explanatory Notes – Section 5: Adoption Support Services: Personal Budgets
Section 8 changes the rules on contact between children in care and their birth families. Where a court authorises a local authority to refuse contact, the authority no longer has to keep trying to promote it, and courts must consider whether contact is consistent with the child’s welfare before making or changing an order.3legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 8
Alongside the Act, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund pays for therapeutic services for eligible adoptive and special guardianship families. It covers children adopted from local authority care anywhere in the UK who now live in England, children adopted from overseas, and children under special guardianship orders previously in care, up to age 21, or 25 with an EHC plan. Families do not apply directly; the local authority or regional adoption agency submits the application after assessing needs. For 2025–26, the fair access limit is £3,000 per child per year for therapy, with the former separate £2,500 specialist assessment allowance folded into that cap.4Find a grant. Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
What Changed in the Family Courts
Part 2 sets a 26-week deadline for courts to resolve care and supervision proceedings. Extensions require exceptional circumstances, and the court must state its reasons.5legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 14 Expert witness reports now require court permission, which forces the evidence to focus on issues that actually affect the child’s future.
Mediation Before Court
Section 10 requires anyone making most private law applications about children or finances to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting first. The meeting explains how mediation works and whether it could resolve the dispute without a hearing.6Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 10 Exemptions cover domestic abuse, urgent child protection, and situations where mediation would clearly be inappropriate. The requirement applies to applications for child arrangements orders, parental responsibility orders, special guardianship orders, and most financial remedy applications.
Child Arrangements Orders
Section 12 abolished the old “residence order” and “contact order” and replaced them with a single child arrangements order. This order sets out where the child lives, when they spend time with each parent, and any other contact arrangements.7legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 12 Under the old terminology one parent “got residence” and the other “got contact.” The new order frames both parents’ roles through practical scheduling rather than legal labels.8Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Explanatory Notes – Section 12: Child Arrangements Orders
What Changed for Special Educational Needs and Disability
Part 3 is the largest single overhaul in the Act. The previous system split support into statements of special educational needs for school-age children and separate learning difficulty assessments for young people in further education. Both were replaced by a single Education, Health and Care plan covering a child from birth to age 25, provided they remain in education or training.9Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Part 3 The old system stopped most support at 16; extending eligibility to 25 closed the gap around the move into adulthood.
An EHC plan is legally binding. It combines educational provision, health services, and social care into one document, describes the child’s needs, specifies the support required, and names the educational placement. Schools, health providers, and social care teams are each accountable for delivering their part.
Local Offer and Personal Budgets
Every local authority must publish a Local Offer listing all the SEN and disability services available in its area, drawing together provision from schools, health centres, social care, and community organisations.10legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 30 Section 49 requires a local authority that is preparing or maintaining an EHC plan to prepare a personal budget if the parent or young person asks.11Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 49 A personal budget lets a family direct funding to specific therapies or equipment rather than being limited to what the council routinely contracts for.
Reviews and Appeals
A local authority must review each EHC plan within 12 months of it being finalised, and within every 12 months after that. Within four weeks of the review meeting the authority must tell the parent or young person whether it plans to maintain, amend, or stop the plan. Reviews for a young person aged 14 or over must also consider preparation for adulthood, including employment, independent living, and community participation.12legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 44: Reviews and Re-assessments
Parents and young people can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal if a local authority refuses to carry out an EHC assessment, refuses to issue a plan after assessment, refuses to amend the educational sections of an existing plan, or decides to stop maintaining a plan. Appeals must generally be registered within two months of the decision letter, or one month after receiving a mediation certificate, whichever is later.13GOV.UK. Appeal an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan Decision
Young Carers and Care Leavers
Section 96 places a duty on local authorities to assess any young carer under 18 who appears to need support, or who asks for an assessment. The assessment must consider whether it is appropriate for the child to keep providing care, taking into account their education, training, recreation, and any work or wish to work. Local authorities must also actively identify young carers in their area rather than waiting for families to come forward.14legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 96
Section 98 introduces “staying put” arrangements. A young person who was in foster care can remain living with their former foster carer until age 21. The local authority must monitor the arrangement, advise both the young person and the former carer, and provide financial support so it can work in practice.15legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 98 Care leavers who might otherwise have been pushed into independent living at 18 can stay in a settled home while finishing education or moving into work.
Shared Parental Leave and Flexible Working
Parts 7 and 8 created Shared Parental Leave. Eligible parents can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of statutory pay after a child is born or placed for adoption.16GOV.UK. Shared Parental Leave and Pay Statutory Shared Parental Pay is £194.32 per week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.17GOV.UK. Shared Parental Leave and Pay: What You’ll Get Leave can be taken in blocks rather than in one stretch, and both parents can be off at the same time. Both must meet continuity of employment and minimum earnings thresholds.
Section 131 extended the right to request flexible working to all qualifying employees. Previously only those caring for a child or vulnerable adult could apply; the Act removed that restriction.18Legislation.gov.uk. Children and Families Act 2014 – Section 131 Employers must consider a request reasonably and can refuse only on one of eight specific business grounds:19Acas. Considering a Request – Statutory Flexible Working Requests
- the change would cost the business too much;
- the work cannot be redistributed among other staff;
- the employer cannot recruit additional staff to cover;
- the change would harm quality;
- the business could not meet customer demand;
- the change would harm performance;
- there is not enough work during the hours the employee wants to work;
- the employer is planning structural changes that would conflict with the request.
An employer who refuses a request without citing one of these grounds, or who misses the statutory response deadline, can face an employment tribunal complaint. The framework was updated again by the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, which from April 2024 lets employees make two requests in any 12-month period and requires employers to respond within two months rather than three.20legislation.gov.uk. Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023