Child Sexual Exploitation – A changing picture for Public Bodies

Background

The Government has made a series of announcements confirming its commitment to strengthening the current legislative framework in order to combat child sexual exploitation. Whilst the finer details remain unclear, it is likely that this will have a significant impact on local authorities, education providers and other professionals providing services to children.

On 16 January 2025, following intense media scrutiny, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper addressed Parliament on Labour’s plans for implementing the Recommendations set out by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). This set of 20 recommendations was published in 2022 following the conclusion of IICSA’s seven year long, national inquiry in response to the high-profile prosecutions of grooming gangs in the Rotherham and Rochdale areas.

Key Announcements

Several of the IICSA’s key recommendations are set to be implemented by the Government in this Parliament and we will look at some of the most significant changes:

• Mandatory Reporting of Suspected Child Sexual Exploitation 

S.45 of the draft Police and Crime Bill 2025, currently due for its third reading in Parliament before the Summer recess, sets out a wide ranging new “Duty to Report Child Sexual Offences”. This proposed Duty would apply to any person carrying out a ‘relevant activity’ in relation to children and stipulates that they must notify either the Local Authorities or the Police within seven days of first suspecting that a sexual offence has been carried out on a child. There will be criminal and professional sanctions for individuals who fail to notify the authorities. Currently, the wording of the draft bill provides that the offending does not need to be ongoing or recent and can have occurred “at any time”, meaning that historical child sexual abuse is captured.

In terms of what constitutes a “relevant activity” in order for the duty to be triggered, this is set wide and will include care services, education providers (including Early Years providers) adoption /fostering services and accommodation providers. The full list of ‘relevant activities’ can be found under Part 2 of Schedule 7 of the draft Bill and the existing Schedule 4 Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.

It is also proposed that a criminal offence of “obstructing” a person from reporting their suspicions will be created.

• New Child Protection Authority

This new body will be set up with the aim of “providing national leadership and learning on child protection and safeguarding”. Whilst little detail is available on the remit and powers of this new authority, it is understood that initially it will sit within the national child safeguarding review panel with further consultation by the end of 2025 on how its role with expand. It remains to be seen how this body will co-exist or perhaps, take precedence, over other bodies with similar remits such as the National Crime Agency.

• Victims Compensation Fund

The lasting impact on victims of child sexual exploitation has been acknowledged by the Government and whilst it seems likely that a fund will be established there is so far, scant detail on how it will be financed in the long term and what the split between central and local sources of funds might be. The likely scale of financial redress to victims will be vast and is due to be considered later in the year as part of Labour’s next spending review.

The duty under s.11 of the Children’s Act 2004 already imposes an obligation on a wide range of public bodies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when performing their functions. This is the cornerstone of the current child protection legislation and it is not yet clear how these new measures will strengthen this framework or improve agency responses to safeguarding risks.

Local Grooming Gang Inquiries

The Government confirmed on 10 April 2025 that five pilot inquiries will go ahead and that Tom Crowther KC, who presided over the Telford Inquiry into child sexual exploitation in that area (2019-2022), has been engaged to draw up a framework for these new “locally led, victim centred inquiries”. The timescales for when these Inquiries will begin and how long they will take to conclude is unclear but public bodies are grappling with the complexities of grooming and child sexual exploitation in real time and principles of approach as set out below remain pertinent for all professional and agencies working with children. 

1. Problem profile – understanding what the risk looks like in the given area?
   • What data is collected?
   • How is this data used?
   • What are the single and multi-agency outcomes of reviewing this data?
   • Does this activity comply with local expectations and government guidance? 
   • How is joint working across strategic meetings/relevant panels, forums and partnerships achieved? 
   • How does this work impact on front line practice and outcomes for children?
2. Multi-agency working - What works well?
   • How do the agencies or Safeguarding Children Partnerships, (SCPs) determine what works well?
   • How is this measured?
   • How do findings/intelligence about what works well influence local multi-agency arrangements to safeguard children?
   • Does joint working across strategic meetings/relevant panels, forums and partnerships work well? How does this impact on front line practice and outcomes for children?
3. Areas for improvement – where are the gaps?
   • What information do the SCPs use/what are the SCPs’ current arrangements for identifying any relevant gaps and responding?   
   • How have the findings/recommendations from relevant recent inspections, local evaluation work, local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Reflective Reviews and Rapid Reviews been progressed?   
   • How have the lived experiences of children and families informed service provision
4. Benchmarking
   • What is currently being bench marked?
   • How is this done?
   • How does this currently inform multi-agency working in these areas?
   • What needs to be benchmarked in the future? 
   • What works well in terms of working across cross border boundaries?
   • How does the local work fit into the wider public protection agenda?

These matters are certain to remain a subject of close scrutiny as the Government’s position evolves in the coming months. We will be following these developments closely and will be publishing further updates as they are announced. For further support in this area please contact Deborah Jeremiah and Nicky Williams.