CSA inquiry recommends mandatory reporting and creation of Child Protection Authorities

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has published its concluding report, recommending “urgent action” to ensure children are better protected from sexual abuse.

The report sets out the “devastating scale” of child sexual abuse, both past and present, describing the extent of the potential crimes facing babies, toddlers, children and young people.

The report presents a “horrifying picture” that underpins the Inquiry’s recommendations in this report and the need for urgent action by both state and non-state institutions.

The seven-year-long inquiry says that child sexual abuse has been hidden from public view for decades and it remains under-reported and under-identified to this day.

“Children have been subject to the most vile and painful acts, threatened, beaten and humiliated, with institutions often choosing to prioritise their personal and institutional reputations above the welfare of those they were duty bound to protect, concealing crimes from the authorities, failing to record allegations and ‘moving on’ known abusers. Blame was frequently assigned to the victims who were treated as if they were unworthy of protection,” the report said.

The inquiry has recommended 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. It also recommended the creation of a Child Protection Authority (CPA) in England and in Wales to secure a “much stronger focus on the complex work of child protection in the relevant institutions and statutory agencies.”

In recent years there has been significant debate about whether mandatory reporting should be introduced in England and in Wales. In July 2016, the government launched a public consultation on reporting and acting on child abuse and neglect. In its 2018 response, the government concluded that the case for mandatory reporting had “not currently been made” and stated that it would not seek to introduce a mandatory reporting duty.

The Inquiry says it has considered the government’s consultation response. However, the broad body of evidence examined by the Inquiry has led to the Inquiry reaching different conclusions on some of the government’s key concerns about mandatory reporting.

Introducing mandatory reporting in other jurisdictions has historically been linked with an increase in the number of referrals made about child abuse to authorities and in the number of children subsequently identified as needing protection from sexual abuse, which gives rise to concerns about potentially unmanageable increases in the number of referrals made to children’s social care services.

Some have argued that there is no need for the introduction of this law as rates of referrals for child abuse and neglect in England and in Wales are “comparable or already higher” than in jurisdictions which have mandatory reporting. During the Inquiry’s seminar on mandatory reporting, Stuart Gallimore – then President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) – observed that “there is no evidence in modern times … of professionals routinely failing to report concerns about child sexual abuse”.

The Inquiry, however, disputed this, saying: “Throughout its investigations, the Inquiry repeatedly found that allegations and indicators of child sexual abuse were under-reported by adults who ought to have reported them.”

“Child sexual abuse is not sufficiently well reported at present. Reliance on bare statistics about rates of referrals risks a complacency about child sexual abuse. In 2021, the Inquiry asked the Department for Education and the Welsh Government for information on the number of referrals for child sexual abuse made to local authorities. Neither government could provide this information, because it was not collected.”

The Inquiry also recommends that the UK government establishes Child Protection Authorities (CPAs) for England and Welsh Governments. It says the authority’s purpose should be to improve practice in child protection; provide advice and make recommendations to government in relation to child protection policy and reform to improve child protection; and inspect institutions and settings as it considers necessary and proportionate.

“Throughout its work, the Inquiry identified a lack of focus and rigour in the responses of a wide range of settings and institutions,” the report said.

The CPAs would have a wide remit, promoting multi-agency working by statutory agencies; providing high-quality advice to institutions on new and emerging forms of harm and how best they can be tackled in a multi-agency environment; and supporting local child protection arrangements by developing high-quality resources for practitioners.

The Inquiry also recommends that an expert inspectorate department is established within the CPAs with powers to inspect multi-agency arrangements and individual institutions and settings.

“Multi-agency inspection activity should be limited in the first instance to those areas most in need of independent scrutiny. It is important, however, that the CPAs hold leaders to account for multi-agency child protection practice. As the CPAs become more established, a regular and systematic inspection programme of multi-agency performance should become normal practice,” the report said.

The report also recommended that the introduction of the Child Protection Authority should be coupled with the introduction of a cabinet Minister for Children in government. This post would provide a sharper focus within government on critical issues which affect children and would provide the necessary leadership, profile and influence on matters of child protection.

The report highlights that the pain and suffering victims and survivors endured often had significant impacts across all aspects of their lives. Relationships, as well as physical, emotional and mental health were damaged, in some cases beyond repair. Some institutions did not respond at all, whilst some others merely offered insincere apologies and inadequate provision of support and counselling.

In respect of this, the report proposes a national redress scheme to provide monetary compensation for child sexual abuse for those who have been let down by state and non-state institutions in the past.

Professor Alexis Jay, Chair of the Inquiry said that, for too long, child sexual abuse has been considered a problem of the past.

“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.”

Responding to the report, the British Association of Social Workers said it supports recommendations that focus on the rights to redress, compensation and specialist therapeutic support for victims and survivors. We support the proposed ban on pain compliance techniques.

“Others, if implemented, will have a direct impact on social work practice, notably the recommendations for mandatory reporting and the recommended amendment to the Children Act 1989,” the Association said in a statement.

“BASW is now considering the recommendations of the report and will consult with members across England and Wales on those relating to social work practice in the coming weeks.”