Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Child sex abuse: Failing to report it should be made illegal - major inquiry

Child sex abuse: Failing to report it should be made illegal - major inquiry

Anyone who works with children and does not report child sexual abuse should be prosecuted, the final report of a huge, seven-year inquiry has recommended.

It called the nature and scale of abuse in England and Wales "horrific and deeply disturbing" with children "threatened, beaten and humiliated".

The inquiry began in 2015 and has cost £186m with evidence from 7,000 victims.

Chairwoman Prof Alexis Jay described an "epidemic that leaves thousands of victims in its poisonous wake".

Prof Jay said some victims would never recover from their experiences.

"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," she said.

"We cannot simply 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 current and future threat of the internet."

Former prime minister Theresa May told BBC News she had "no idea" of the scale of child abuse when she set up the inquiry as home secretary, and was "absolutely horrified" when it became increasingly clear.

"The sad thing is very often children were raising this. Children were saying that this was happening to them and we weren't listening," she added.

The report says institutions too often "prioritised their personal and institutional reputations above the welfare of those they were duty bound to protect.

"Blame was frequently assigned to the victims who were treated as if they were unworthy of protection."

Some institutions did not respond at all to the inquiry's investigations, while others merely offered "insincere apologies and inadequate provision of support and counselling".

The inquiry has been criticised for focusing too much on past events, but IICSA's report said online abuse had increased in recent years and there were many lessons for modern organisations to learn.

"Child protection must be given a much greater priority in public life," it concludes.

The inquiry says its 20 key recommendations need to be accepted by government as a "matter of urgency".

These include a new law placing a duty to report child abuse on anyone who witnessed or was told about it by children or perpetrators.

Not doing so would result in a criminal offence unless the behaviour was consensual and non-abusive between young people of similar ages.

This would cover "anyone working with children", an inquiry official said, as defined under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

But the pressure group Mandate Now says this recommendation is "very limited".

The group wants it to be an offence to fail to report any signs that children are being abused, such as recognisable changes in behaviour or mental health.

Mandate Now say the inquiry's recommendation is "mandatory reporting in name only".

The inquiry also argues for new child protection authorities for England and Wales - and a new, single scheme for compensating victims of abuse.

It dismissed concerns that victims might "lie for money" as "misplaced and offensive".

The inquiry's final, over-arching report was published on Thursday. It has already published reports highlighting abuse across a range of institutions, including religious organisations, politics, children's homes and schools.

It also highlights "undue deference of police, prosecutors and political parties" towards prominent individuals accused of abuse.

The report says the Roman Catholic church presided over a "sorry history of child sexual abuse," - between 1970 and 2015, there were 3,000 complaints and 133 convictions. Millions were paid in compensation to victims.

In the Church of England there were 390 convictions dating back to the 1940s.

In other religions there had been "significant barriers to effective reporting of child sexual abuse, including victim blaming and notions of shame and honour".


The inquiry: Key facts


The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal by then Home Secretary Theresa May.

Hundreds of people came forward after the presenter's death in 2011 to say he had abused them as children.

The public inquiry was given a broad remit to investigate historical allegations of child abuse, dating back to the 1950s, as well as claims that authorities, including the police, failed to properly investigate these allegations.

About 7,000 victims of abuse have provided testimonies and 725 people gave evidence over 325 days of public hearings, contributing to 15 investigations and dozens of reports.

The inquiry examined claims of abuse at children's homes including, Cambridge House and Knowl View, in Rochdale.

In Nottinghamshire children's homes there were 350 complainants about abuse by staff.

Another massive abuse scandal centred on Lambeth Council in south London where the inquiry said it was "hard to comprehend the cruelty and sexual abuse inflicted on children".

The inquiry has identified particular concerns about boarding schools and some specialist schools, such as those teaching music and highlights "deeply distressing cases" where the school was seen as more important than victims.

The inquiry said the post-war programme of child migration to Australia and other Commonwealth countries had been "deeply flawed" and caused "lifelong damage to children".

When the inquiry began there were fervent rumours that a "Westminster paedophile ring" had abused children. IICSA uncovered no evidence of that, despite finding many "individual perpetrators".

Sir Peter Wanless, chief executive of children's charity, the NSPCC, called for "political leadership to turn this inquiry into lasting change".

Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called the findings "harrowing" and urged the government to act immediately to prevent known abuse cases being disguised or covered up by powerful institutions.

The government says it will respond in full to the report within six months.

Home Secretary Grant Shapps, who took up the office on Wednesday, pledged to keep the voices of victims and survivors "front and centre in everything I do".

Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis said the government would continue to transform the justice system's response to these heinous crimes, locking up child abusers for longer, making sure predators cannot use sports or religious roles to harm young people and hugely increasing funding for support services so no victim suffers alone."


Clare Devlin spoke to the BBC about her experience of sexual abuse as a child by her father, a senior judge


Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×