Protection of Children Act 1978

The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act applies in England and Wales. Similar provision for Scotland is contained in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and for Northern Ireland in the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

The Protection of Children Bill was put before Parliament as a Private Member's Bill by the Conservative member of parliament Cyril Townsend in the 1977–1978 parliamentary session. This Bill came about as a result of the concern over child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children that had arisen in the United States of America in 1977. This cause was taken up in the UK by the press and Mary Whitehouse, who in a speech in 1977 had accused the Albany Trust of using public money effectively supporting the Paedophile Information Exchange (the project for a joint Albany/PIE pamphlet was scrapped). Decades later, it emerged that she had been accurate in her assertion. The existence of PIE was given by Townsend as an issue favouring legislation against child pornography. Whitehouse's National Viewers' and Listeners' Association was able to campaign in support of the Bill and present a petition bearing 1 ¹⁄₂ million signatures.

When the progress of the bill was threatened by MP Ian Mikardo, who blocked it to protest against tactics being used by the Conservative party to block Edward Fletcher's bill on employment protection, the Prime Minister, James Callaghan, stepped in to ensure that the Bill received the time required to become law.

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