Kirstie Allsopp reported to social services for allowing son, 15, to travel abroad

Kirstie Allsopp has hit back against Britain’s “risk-averse” culture as she revealed she was reported to social services for allowing her teenage son to go on an Interrailing trip.

The television presenter said that after sharing online that she had allowed her then 15-year-old son, Oscar, to go travelling across Europe, she was contacted by a social worker who informed her a file had been opened after child protection concerns raised.

She said her son was young for his year and was travelling after his GCSEs with a 16-year-old friend.

Posting on Instagram on Sunday morning, the Location, Location, Location presenter, 52, said: “I thought his trip was inspiring, and it never occurred to me in a million years that a call from children services would be involved, it’s been a huge shock, not least for Oscar.”

Allsopp said a social worker from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) would not tell her how the referral was made or by whom and said officials did not appear to understand she was probably targeted by someone falsely alleging neglect.

She said the social worker told her every referral must be looked into and questioned what safeguards were put in place for her son’s trip.

Speaking about the handling of the referral, Allsopp told the Mail on Sunday: “I just felt sick – absolutely sick. Then I was cross. I was very, very cross. It was just so extraordinary. I was in a parallel universe where they were actually taking this seriously. I have broken no law and nothing about allowing my child to travel around Europe is neglectful.”

A spokesperson for RBKC confirmed to the Guardian that an investigation into the allegation was ongoing and they had a legal obligation to look into all reports.

Allsopp said the social worker confirmed a file had been opened on Oscar and that they could keep the file open “in case there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further”.

She told the Mail on Sunday: “For me, that was the sucker punch – the idea this file might continue existing. What [the official] said to me was: ‘If in six months there was another referral and we needed to come to your house and look into this further, it would be important that we had kept a note of the first referral.’

“That was the Orwellian moment. The fact it was maliciously done wasn’t coming home to her.”

Allsopp had posted a thread on X about her son’s travels on Monday. He has since had his 16th birthday.

Posting a picture on Instagram on Sunday of Welcombe beach in north Devon, near the holiday home she owns, she wrote: “We bought Meadowgate as a ruin just before Oscar was born, 16 years ago, for almost as long we’ve spent every August bank holiday here with many friends and their kids.

“This is where many of them had their first taste of independence, walking to the beach alone or going rock pooling and returning safely with their treasures, this year there are only 5 kids with us, and they aren’t really kids at all, the others are working, travelling or studying, living independently as they should be. It is our job to raise our children to leave the nest, the enormous cost of nests aside.”

Allsopp, who recently returned from Switzerland, said her experience exposed the extent of Britons’ cautiousness with children compared with people elsewhere in Europe. “I knew that we were becoming a more risk-averse culture in the UK and the US. My time is Switzerland has taught me a lot. There, as in Japan, children walk to school alone and are encouraged to learn early to be self-sufficient, and trusted to make sensible choices.

“I knew that wasn’t happening as much at home and I was interested by the [work of the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt] and others who see a link between less freedom & trust and more mental health concerns amongst young people.

“So when I said Oscar had done what so many, many young people did after O-levels, and now after GCSEs, and gone Interrailing, despite being summer-born and therefore young for his school year, I knew [what] some people might think, but I thought his trip was inspiring, and it never occurred to me in a million years that a call from children services would be involved. It’s been a huge shock, not least for Oscar.”

She said she hoped the “silver lining” of her experience would be “that everyone stops and thinks about the freedoms we had as children, and ask what harm could be done, not by the freedoms, but by the restrictions and fears we are imposing on our kids”.

An RBKC spokesperson said: “Safeguarding children is an absolute priority. We take any referral we receive very seriously and we have a statutory responsibility for children under 18 years of age.”