How old are Kirstie Allsopp’s children? TV presenter addresses getting reported to social services for allowing her son to travel solo

TV personality Kirstie Allsopp recently expressed her anxiety to The Mail on Sunday, August 25, following her teenage son's departure for a European interrailing trip, which resulted in a call from social services.

This summer, the 52-year-old host of Location, Location, Location allowed her 15-year-old son Oscar and his 16-year-old friend to go on a tour to Europe which led to her getting the message from the authorities.

She went on to say that she was furious when a social worker texted her to request a conversation. According to Kirstie Allsopp, authorities were not sure if she had been singled out by someone making fictitious claims of maltreatment.

She then said to the media outlet,

"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."

Kirstie and her partner, Ben Andersen, have two sons, Oscar, who was born in 2008, and Bay, who was born in 2006. In addition, she is also the stepmother of the two sons that her partner had in a prior relationship. When Oscar was 15, Kirstie gave him permission to travel alone. He is now 16 years old, while Ben is 18.

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Kirstie Allsopp opened up about her unpleasant encounter with social services

Kirstie Allsopp's sons are teenagers (Image via Instagram / @kirstiemallsopp)

While talking to The Mail, she said that the social worker then demanded that all claims be looked into and asked her about the safety measures she had taken for her son's travels.

The social worker also asked Kirstie Allsopp what "safeguards" she had before Oscar left on his three-week trip around Europe. The Mail went on to say that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea allegedly created a file after getting a "referral" about her son Oscar Hercules.

Additionally, the local government said they might keep her complaint file open "in case we needed to come to your house and look into this further due to another referral."

Kirstie Allsopp denounced the intervention as "absolutely outrageous" and said to the Mail,

"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."

She added that she gave him permission to travel because she thought he was a "very sensible young man.” Then, considering how people’s opinion of providing young people independence has changed, she said,

“In previous generations, people did things far younger. We are looking at a mental health crisis with young people. A lot of people are talking about it and writing about it. We have to ask ourselves - how much of this is because of our fear and our worry, and how much of our fear and worry stems from 24-hour news and a lot of belief that the world is a worse place?".

She also mentioned how her parents had made important life decisions when they were still in their teens.

The conversation with The Mail happened after Kirstie Allsopp wrote on X on Monday, August 19 that he had decided to let Oscar leave with his friends. Stating the same, she further wrote,

“My little boy has returned from 3 weeks inter-railing, he’ll be 16 on Wednesday so he went with a mate who’s already 16 due to hostel/travel restrictions.”

She further continued,

“For obvious budget reasons, inter-railing isn’t on the cards for everyone, but in this increasingly risk-averse world it’s vital that we find any ways we can to give our children the confidence that only comes from trusting them.”

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Following the conversation, with The Mail, neither Kirstie Allsopp nor her partner said anything about the whole thing.

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