Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse calls for mandatory reporting, removal of time limit for making compensation claims

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has called on the UK and Welsh Governments to introduce a new law of mandatory reporting making it a legal requirement for those who work in regulated activity or work in a position of trust to report child sexual abuse.

The report said: “These laws would apply where a child or an abuser tells a mandated reporter that a child is being sexually abused, as well as if a mandated reporter witnesses a child being sexually abused or can see signs that indicate that a child has been sexually abused.”

The Inquiry’s final Report sets out further detail about this recommendation including that it should be a crime to fail to make a mandatory report in certain circumstances.

“People who work in regulated activity in relation to children (under the Safeguarding and Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, as amended) and people in positions of trust and also police officers should be mandated reporters. Mandated reporters should make these reports as soon as possible to local authority children’s social care or the police," it said.

In its final report IICSA also suggested that the UK government should change the law to remove the time limit for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to make a legal claim for compensation.

“These 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 or settled by agreement. The right to a fair trial should be expressly protected. These changes should not apply to claims brought on behalf of the estates of victims and survivors,” it said.

IICSA meanwhile recommended that the UK government should amend the Children Act 1989 so that looked after children or someone acting for them can apply to the family courts for orders to mandate or limit a local authority’s exercise of its parental responsibility.

“If a child in the care of the local authority is or is believed to be being significantly harmed, or is at risk of significant harm, it would allow the court to stop a local authority taking or planning particular action or allow the court to give directions in relation to the local authority’s exercise of parental responsibility for that child,” the report said.

Other recommendations include that:

• The UK government and the Welsh Government should improve data collected by children’s social care and criminal justice agencies about child sexual abuse and exploitation. There should be one single set of data covering both England and Wales.
• The UK Government should create a Child Protection Authority for England, and the Welsh Government should create a Child Protection Authority for Wales. Each authority’s purpose should be to: improve practice in child protection; advise and make recommendations to government to improve child protection; inspect institutions and settings as it thinks appropriate.
• The UK government should create a cabinet-level ministerial position for children. The Welsh Government should ensure that there is cabinet-level ministerial responsibility for children.
• The UK government should ban the use of any technique that deliberately induces pain. These are sometimes referred to as ‘pain compliance techniques’. The UK government should withdraw any policies that allow pain compliance techniques to be used in custodial institutions where children are detained, and should prohibit the practice.
• The UK government should introduce a system for registering staff working in care roles in children’s homes including secure children’s homes.
• The UK government should enable anyone who hires people to work or volunteer with children on a frequent basis to check if they have been barred by the Disclosure and Barring Service from working with children. This should also apply where the role is supervised.
• The UK government should take steps to improve compliance with the duty to notify the Disclosure and Barring Service.
• The UK government should make further changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. It should include other forms of child sexual abuse, including online-facilitated sexual abuse. Victims and survivors with unspent convictions should not be automatically excluded where the crimes are likely to be linked to the sexual abuse they
  experienced as a child. The time limit to apply for compensation should be increased to seven years.

The Inquiry had already made 87 recommendations during the course of its work.

The Inquiry examined the responses of a broad range of institutions and organisations to allegations of child sexual abuse. It held 325 days of public hearings, processed more than two million pages of evidence and heard from 725 witnesses. The Inquiry has also published 61 reports and publications.

Over 7,300 victims and survivors engaged with the work of the Inquiry. More than 700 gave evidence at public hearings or provided statements. Over 6,200 came forward to share their experiences at the Truth Project and nearly 1,800 joined the Inquiry’s Victims and Survivors Forum.

IICSA said many common themes were evident from its work. “The Inquiry heard repeatedly how institutions prioritised their own reputations, and those of individuals within them, above the protection of children. Many lacked appropriate policies and procedures.”

Professor Alexis Jay, Chair of the Inquiry, said: “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.

“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.”