When is it OK to leave a child alone at home?

[Cfr]

My eldest dd is 10, and I occasionally leave her at home on her own for a few minutes, usually when I take a younger one to football, so I'm talking about 20 minutes at the most. I thought that this was fine, and dd is certainly resonsible enough, but I was shocked when I mentioned this to a very good friend to find that she was horrified. She thinks that I'm risking being 'caught' by social services and that I should find out the legal implications. She also assumed that this means that I will leave her in the house all day while I'm at work, but clearly she's not ready for that yet. I really believe that children need to be given responsibility in small amounts and then it can be increased as they get older. Surely it would be worse to suddenly leave her for a full day when she reaches 14, or whatever the appropriate age is considered to be?
I have since mentioned it to other friends, and found that many like me are leaving their 10-yr olds for short periods (mainly girls, though), but some are adamant that it's dangerous. As one friend said, anything could happen in the few minutes that your away. I disagree - my dd has strict instructions on what she can and can't do, and is very sensible anyway.

Does anyone know what the legal position is? And what have others done with older children?

Alibubbles, both my daughters have wanted to go on holiday with their friends after GCSEs and I said no both times. I think a year in the 6th form, where they have to be much more responsible for their own actions and much more organised, makes a huge difference.

I also think the personalities of the others involved are important...my younger daughter will be going to Tenerife this summer, when she is 17, in a large group. Last summer she and several others - which eventually dwindled to 2 - wanted to go to Newquay for a week. Partly because of the personality of one of the 2 (self-centred and spoiled rotten) I didn't let mine go, and when she heard how the trip went from the non-self-centred one she was actually glad she hadn't gone!

Your daughter sounds very together, mature and sensible but what are her friends like...???

This is taking things back a bit on the discussion - and a bit off message too, as it's about open fires. We recently had a gas 'living flame' fire installed, and had real problmes trying to find a fireguard for it. All the brochures we saw showed the fires without a fireguard, never anything to say you should have a fireguard and wherever we asked everyone said there's no call for them. We got one eventually - not the big cover-all one we had when they were tiny, but one that fits quite well in the firepalace (but is not fixed). I just wonder whether more children are at risk from these fires now, if the general climate seems to thinnk they are not 'real fires'. My daughter is not allowed to have it on if she's in the house by herself - but they are currently watching TV by themselves with the fire on. It does worry me. With that awful case of the 8 yr old left in her older sister's charge and burned to death - what a burden to that sister for the rest of her life.

Yes, they certainly did in that town, anyway, Batters. Whether the SS become involved partly depends on your neighbours and 'friends'. Another friend left her toddler in the car when she went 10 yards to the school gate and someone in the house came out and threatened to report her to the SS! Nothing came of it, but it's easy to see how these things snowball. Mind you after those poor babies burnt to death in a car this week, maybe the person had a point....

Speaking of fire, a school friend of mine died in a fire when she was seven, absolutely dreadful and I've never forgotten it. We still have a big fireguard round our open fire even though we rarely light it. We have a marble hearth and I'm petrified of someone falling onto it and cracking their head open. I also go to a house where they have a living fire. They've never had a fireguard and my heart is always in my mouth, especially when all four of their children are fighting and scrapping nearby. Personally, I have to resist the temptation to chuck rubbish on it!