Child sex abuse inquiry demands payouts for victims as report rules that turning a blind eye to suspected sexual assaults on children should be made a crime
- Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has published its final report today
- It recommends victim payouts and prosecutions for those who ‘turn a blind eye’
- The £186m inquiry was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal
- More than 7,000 victims took part and 325 public hearings were held
- Chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay warned abuse was a ‘national epidemic’
One of Britain’s biggest ever national inquiries has warned that the scourge of child sex abuse is ‘a national epidemic’ and an ‘ever-increasing problem’, not simply an ‘historical aberration which happened decades ago’ – as its final report published today recommends that anyone who turns a blind eye to suspected assaults should be prosecuted.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which was set up five years ago in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, called the abuse of children an ‘epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake’ and warned it ‘is not uncommon, it is not contained within one sector of society, it is not always hidden, nor is it confined to girls’.
Among a raft of wide-ranging recommendations in its final report, the inquiry called for laws compelling people in positions of trust to report child sexual abuse and a national compensation scheme for victims.
The £186.6million inquiry, set up in 2015, looked at 15 areas scrutinising institutional responses to child sexual abuse – including investigations into abuse in Westminster and the church – and more than 7,000 victims took part. Some 325 days of public hearings saw testimony from 725 witnesses while 2.5million pages of evidence were processed and scores of reports published with 87 recommendations already made as a result.
Its chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay warned: ‘The nature and scale of the abuse we encountered was shocking and deeply disturbing. This is not just a historical aberration which happened decades ago, it is an ever-increasing problem and a national epidemic.
‘The whole subject of child sexual abuse is mired in euphemism, obfuscation, myth and stereotypes. So let me put this plainly – it is not uncommon, it is not contained within one sector of society, it is not always hidden, nor is it confined to girls. And nor is it true that it does not occur within ethnic minority communities.’
The report added that the UK Government should create a post for a minister for children at cabinet level and the Welsh Government should make sure there is cabinet-level responsibility for children while a Child Protection Authority (CPA) should also be established to ‘secure a much stronger focus on the complex work of child protection in the relevant institutions and statutory agencies’.
Six previous recommendations put forward by the inquiry were reissued in the final report as they had not been ‘properly addressed or acted upon by those whom they were directed’.
A further 14 proposals were set out in the overall findings today and the IICSA said it expects the UK and Welsh Governments, and other institutions mentioned, to act on these ‘promptly’ and report back on the steps they have taken within six months of the final report’s publication.
Scathing findings on the investigation into abuse allegations at the Church of England concluded the King, who was then the Prince of Wales, was ‘misguided’ in his support for shamed clergyman Peter Ball who was cautioned for gross indecency in 1992.
Prof Jay added: ‘For too long, child sexual abuse has been considered a problem of the past, despite lifelong impacts on its young victims.
‘Its extent cannot be underestimated; the sexual abuse of children is an epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake and some will never recover.
One of Britain’s biggest ever national inquiries has warned that the scourge of child sex abuse is ‘a national epidemic’ and an ‘ever-increasing problem’ (stock image)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up in July 2014 following a series of horrific revelations of abuse, some of which dated back decades – mostly notably by Jimmy Savile (pictured)
Everything you need to know about the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
When was the inquiry set up?
The inquiry was set up in 2015.
How many investigations did the inquiry conduct?
The inquiry conducted 15 investigations before the publication of its final report, into areas such as Westminster and the church.
How many victims gave evidence in the inquiry?
More than 7,000 victims came forward to give evidence.
How many witnesses gave evidence in the inquiry?
A total of 725 witnesses gave evidence including 21 bishops, four archbishops, two archdeacons, one cardinal, 43 senior police officers, 29 Lords and Ladies, eight former government ministers, the former Director General of MI5 and three ex-prime ministers.
Which prominent figures featured in the inquiry?
One strand of the inquiry looked at children who reported being sexually abused by the late Labour grandee Lord Janner.
The King gave evidence to the inquiry through a written statement while he was the Prince of Wales, as his support for shamed clergyman Peter Ball was described as ‘misguided’ in a scathing report.
Other famous names that gave evidence to the inquiry were the Archbishop of Canterbury and former prime minister Sir Tony Blair.
How many pages of evidence were processed in the inquiry?
There were 2.5million pages of evidence processed.
How many recommendations were made in the final overarching report?
There were 20 recommendations made in the inquiry’s final report – including the implementation of laws compelling people in positions of trust to report child sexual abuse and a national compensation scheme for victims.
How much did the inquiry cost?
The inquiry cost £186.6million up until the report’s publication date.
‘Across our investigations, research programme and Truth Project, we heard time and time again how allegations of abuse were ignored, victims were blamed and institutions prioritised their reputations over the protection of children. The nature and scale of the abuse we encountered were horrifying and deeply disturbing. As a society, we simply cannot file it away and consider it a historical aberration when so much of what we learned suggests it is an ever-growing problem, exacerbated by the current and future threat of the internet.
‘The publication of this report is the culmination of seven years of work. To the victims and survivors who have made such an immense contribution to our work, we will be forever grateful.
‘I urge the UK Government, the Welsh Government and all other relevant institutions to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations as a matter of urgency. Unless we are prepared to accept a world where our children, and their children, are always in danger of becoming victims of this terrible crime, action must be taken immediately.’
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater & Gordon, who represented the single largest group of victims at the inquiry, said it was a ‘huge day for survivors’ but added the report ‘doesn’t go far enough’.
He said: ‘We strongly welcome mandatory reporting. However the inquiry’s recommendation falls short of what we need. The lack of any criminal penalty for failure to report abuse which is reasonably suspected creates a real risk that institutions can still turn a blind eye.
‘Children rarely disclose abuse, perpetrators almost never do. Mandatory reporting can only work if the requirement to report reasonable suspicion of abuse has teeth in the form of criminal sanctions. As currently worded the inquiry’s proposal could end up being mandatory reporting in name only.
‘We will fight to strengthen this proposal as it goes through Parliament.’
He added: ‘We strongly welcome the recommendations to abolish the unfair 3 year time limit for civil claims, and CICA reform. The government must implement these without delay.
‘We welcome the overhaul of regulation – but again, we fear that the powers of the new Child Protection Authority will be inadequate.
‘This report is an important start, but to guarantee real protection for children some key recommendations will need to be improved. We will fight to strengthen these proposals as they go through Parliament, so that future generations of children can secure the comprehensive protection they need’.
Home Secretary Grant Shapps said his department would act on the report, saying ‘there is much more to do’.
The Home Office said the Government would respond in full to the Inquiry’s report within six months, when all of the recommendations have been considered.
Mr Shapps said: ‘I am incredibly grateful to the thousands of victims and survivors who have bravely come forward to share their experiences with the inquiry, their bravery will not be forgotten.
‘I will keep their voices front and centre in everything I do and I will ensure that the findings of the inquiry, and their invaluable testimonies, are acted upon.
‘To date, we have already taken action to tackle this abhorrent crime and learn from the lessons of the past, but I know there is much more to do. This is the start of a new chapter in our efforts to put an end to this terrible crime.
‘I want to give assurances – where we can act quicker, we will. I will use all available levers to protect our children, to improve the law enforcement and criminal justice response, provide the support victims and survivors deserve and ensure all institutions and leaders are properly held to account.’
Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis said: ‘This Inquiry has laid bare the horrors that many children suffered as a result of historical institutional failings that must never be repeated.
‘That is why we will continue to transform the justice system’s response to these heinous crimes – locking up child abusers for longer to protect the public, making sure predators cannot use sports or religious roles to harm young people, and hugely increasing funding for support services so that no victim is left to suffer alone.’
And Education Secretary Kit Malthouse said: ‘The scale of historic abuse and exploitation suffered by these children is horrifying, and their bravery in coming forward will help improve services to protect children.
‘Over the last seven years we have strengthened the join-up between police, health care professionals, councils and schools, so more children feel protected by the institutions that are supposed to keep them safe, and we will continue to improve children’s social care so every child has a safe and loving childhood.’
The inquiry itself was riven by setbacks before it got under way, with Prof Jay the fourth person to appointed to lead the investigation after her three predecessors stepped down.
Before the appointment of Prof Jay as chairwoman, resignations and blunders threw the future of the inquiry into doubt.
The IICSA was officially opened in 2015 by New Zealand High Court Judge Dame Lowell Goddard after two previous chairwomen resigned.
Baroness Butler-Sloss stood down in July 2014 amid questions over the role played by her late brother, Lord Havers, who was attorney general in the 1980s.
Her replacement Dame Fiona Woolf resigned following a barrage of criticism over her ‘establishment links’, most notably in relation to former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in 2015.
In October 2015, information provided by victims to the inquiry was deleted due to a change in its website address.
In the same month, former child protection officer Peter McKelvie resigned from his role advising the inquiry as he was likely to be required as a witness.
Mr McKelvie’s information was said to have led to concerns being raised by Labour MP Tom Watson over whether a minister had links to a past paedophile ring.
Police later found no evidence for such a claim, according to reports.
In August 2016, Dame Lowell resigned from her position as chairwoman, saying the investigation had struggled to shake off its ‘legacy of failure’ – adding there was an ‘inherent problem’ in the probe’s ‘sheer scale and size’ .
Her tenure was to last barely 18 months, and concluded amid revelations she had spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday in her first year in the role.
MPs were told concerns about the leadership of the inquiry were reported to a Home Office figure months before her resignation.
Dame Lowell rejected claims she used racist language while she was chair of the inquiry.
Former senior social worker Prof Jay then took over as the fourth chairwoman of the embattled inquiry – insisting the probe was ‘open for business’.
In September 2016, the then-home secretary Amber Rudd insisted she had full confidence in the inquiry, despite the most senior lawyer being suspended from duty.
Aspects of then-QC Ben Emmerson’s leadership were called into question by a spokeswoman for the inquiry who said it had ‘become very concerned’.
Mr Emmerson, who was counsel to the inquiry, was ‘suspended from duty so that these can be properly investigated’.
The lawyer said he learned of his suspension via news reports on the internet.
Later in the same month, junior counsel and human rights specialist Elizabeth Prochaska quit her role before Mr Emmerson followed suit just hours later.
The then-prime minister Theresa May was forced to defend the inquiry by saying it was not ‘too broad’ in its scope, following the resignations.
Later in the year, one of the largest victims’ groups involved withdrew from the probe – branding it an ‘unpalatable circus’.
The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association delivered a blistering critique of the inquiry, describing Prof Jay as an ‘uninspiring leader’.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendations in full
A single core data set
One single core data set should be introduced in order to improve data collected by children’s social care and criminal justice agencies concerning child sexual abuse and exploitation.
To facilitate this, agencies should produce consistent and compatible data that includes three things:
– Characteristics, such as age sex and ethnicity, of victims and alleged perpetrators
– Factors that make victims more vulnerable
– Settings and contexts in which abuse occurs
The data should be published on a regular basis and should be collated on national and regional or local levels.
Child Protection Authorities
A Child Protection Authority should be established in England and Wales.
Each authority’s purpose should be:
– Improve practice in child protection
– Provide advice and make recommendations to government in relation to child protection policy and reform
– Inspect institutions and settings as it considers necessary and proportionate
The authorities should also monitor the implementation of the recommendations.
A cabinet Minister for Children
The UK Government should create a Minister for Children at cabinet level, and the Welsh Government should ensure there is cabinet-level responsibility for children.
Public Awareness
Regular programmes of activity should be commissioned by the UK and Welsh Governments to increase public awareness of child sexual abuse, and the action to take if it is happening or suspected.
The programmes should:
– Challenge myths and stereotypes about child sexual abuse
– Make maximum use of different approaches such as public information campaigns, the use of positive role models and creative media
– Be supported by continuous evaluation to measure their impact
Pain Compliance
The UK Government should prohibit the use of any technique that deliberately induces pain by withdrawing all policy permitting its use in custodial institutions in which children are detained, and setting out that this practice is prohibited by way of regulation.
Amendment to Children Act 1989
The Children Act 1989 should be amended by the UK Government so on an application by or for a child in the care of a local authority, who is experiencing or at risk of significant harm, a court may:
– Prohibit a local authority from taking any act, which it otherwise would be entitled to take in exercising its parental responsibility for the child
– Give directions for the purpose of determining a specific question which has arisen, or may arise, in connection with any aspect of the local authority’s exercise of parental responsibility for a child
Registration of care staff in children’s homes
The UK Government should introduce arrangements for the registration of staff working in care roles in children’s homes.
Registration should be with an independent body charged with setting and maintaining standards of training, conduct and continuing professional development, and with the power to enforce these through fitness to practice procedures.
Registration of staff in care roles in young offender institutions and secure training centres
The UK Government should introduce arrangements for the professional registration of staff in roles responsible for the care of children in young offender institutions and secure training centres.
Greater use of the barred list
The UK Government should enable any person engaging an individual to work or volunteer with children on a frequent basis to check whether they have been barred by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) from working with children.
Improving compliance with the statutory duty to notify the DBS
The UK Government should take steps to improve compliance by regulated activity providers with their statutory duty to refer concerns about the suitability of individuals to work with children to the DBS.
These should include:
– All relevant regulators and inspectorates include compliance with the statutory duty to refer to the DBS in their assessment of safeguarding procedures during inspections
– The National Police Chiefs’ Council works with relevant regulators and inspectorates to ensure that there are clear arrangements in place to refer breaches of the duty to refer to the police for criminal investigation
– An information-sharing protocol is put in place between the DBS and relevant regulators and inspectorates
Extending disclosure regime to those working with children overseas
The UK Government should introduce legislation permitting the DBS to provide enhanced certificates with barred list checks to citizens and residents of England and Wales applying for:
– Work or volunteering with UK-based organisations, where the recruitment decision is taken outside the UK, or
– Work or volunteering with organisations based outside the UK, in each case where the work or volunteering would be regulated activity if in England and Wales
Pre-screening
The UK Government should make it mandatory for all regulated providers of search services and user-to-user services to pre-screen for known child sexual abuse material.
Mandatory reporting
The UK and Welsh Governments should introduce legislation which makes certain individuals ‘mandated reporters’, under a statutory duty to report child sexual abuse where they:
– Receive disclosure of child sex abuse
– Witness child sex abuse
– Observe recognised indicators of child sex abuse
Mandated reports should include:
– Any person working in regulated activity in relation to children
– Any person working in a position of trust
– Police officers
Where the child is aged between 13 and 16, a report need not be made where the mandated reporter reasonably believes that:
– The relationship between the parties is consensual and not intimidatory, exploitative or coercive
– The child has not been harmed and is not at risk of being harmed
– There is no material difference in capacity or maturity between the parties, and there is a difference in age of no more than three years
The exceptions should not apply for a person in a position of trust.
A report must always be made for a child under 13.
Reports should be made either to local authority children’s social care or police as soon as is practicable.
It should be a criminal offence for mandated reporters to fail to report child sexual abuse where they:
– Are in receipt of a disclosure of child sexual abuse from a child or perpetrator
– Witness a child being sexually abused
Compliance with the Victims’ Code
The UK Government should commission a joint inspection of compliance with the Victims’ Code in relation to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, to be undertaken by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Probation.
Limitation
The UK Government should make necessary changes to legislation in order to ensure:
– The removal of the three-year limitation period for personal injury claims brought by victims and survivors
– The express protection of the right to a fair trial, with the burden falling on defendants to show that a fair trial is not possible
Provisions should apply whether or not the current three-year period has already started to run or has expired, except where claims have been:
– Dismissed by a court
– Settled by agreement
Specialist therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse
The UK and Welsh Government should introduce a national guarantee that child victims of sexual abuse will be offered specialist and accredited therapeutic support.
There should be sufficient supply of these services so children can access support in a timely way.
The services should be fully funded.
Responsibility for commissioning the services should be given to local authorities.
There must be no eligibility criteria for children to access the services other than having been a child sexual abuse victim.
Access to records
The UK Government should direct the Information Commissioner’s Office to introduce a code of practice on retention of and access to records known to relate to child sexual abuse.
The retention period for records known to relate to allegations or cases of child sexual abuse should be 75 years with appropriate review periods.
The code should set out that institutions have:
– Retention policies that reflect the importance of such records to victims and survivors, and that they may take decades to seek to access such records
– Clear and accessible procedures for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to access such records
– Policies, procedures and training for staff responding to requests to ensure that they recognise the long-term impact of child sexual abuse and engage with the applicant with empathy
Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
The UK Government should change the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme to:
– Include other reforms of child sexual abuse, including online-facilitated sexual abuse
– Amend the rule on unspent convictions so applicants with unspent convictions are not automatically excluded where offences are likely to be linked to the circumstances of their sexual abuse as a child
– Increase the time limit for child sexual abuse applications so applicants have seven years to apply from a) the date the offence was reported to police or b) the age of 18, where the offence was reported whilst the victim was a child.
Redress Scheme
The UK Government should establish a single redress scheme in England and Wales, taking into account devolved responsibilities.
The detailed rules and funding for the redress scheme should reflect the following core elements:
Eligibility
– Victims and survivors of abuse that occurred in England and Wales should be eligible to apply
– Applicants must have experienced abuse where there is a clear connection to State or non-State institutions in England and Wales
– The scheme should be open to any victim of abuse that took place prior to its establishment
– The scheme should deduct any previous award from any payment under the scheme
– Applicants who previously brought civil claims which have been rejected by the court should be excluded from applying to the scheme unless their cases were rejected due to limitation
Redress provided
– The scheme should provide payments to eligible applicants through a two-tier system, based on a fixed flat-rate recognition payment, with the option to apply for a second-tier payment
Process
– The application process must be accessible and straightforward, sensitive to the needs and vulnerabilities of victims, provide for streamlined checks and verification of applications, but not adversarial
– There should be special provisions to accelerate awards for older or terminally ill applicants
Duration
– The scheme should run for five years
Funding
– The scheme should be funded by central and local government, in accordance with devolved funding principles, with voluntary contributions sought from non-State institutions
Age Verification
The UK Government should introduce legislation requiring providers of online services and social media platforms to implement more stringent age verification measures.
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