I am calling upon government to implement the recommendations of IICSA (Independent Inquirty Child Sexual Abuse), and to honour the commitments of the Home Office made in June 2023
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which was a public inquiry in England and Wales, launched in 2015, ran for 7 years and cost £180 million. It was aimed at investigating institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse. Its work was extensive, focusing on uncovering systemic issues and providing recommendations to prevent future abuse. There were 15 Investigative Modules, which investigated various institutions, and settings where abuse took place. It also examined the Justice System in order to ascertain how effective it was at achieving the aims demanded by survivors.
It takes an actual example of the many hurdles which are put in the way of a survivor and his/her lawyers in order to drive the point home. In December 2024 BBC West Midlands covered a story involving one of my clients, who has waived his anonymity, and who has struggled to win his case due to the obstacles in his path. One can read the story here
The final report, released in October 2022, provided a comprehensive review of systemic failings in protecting children from sexual abuse in England and Wales. It offered 20 key recommendations aimed at strengthening child safeguarding frameworks and addressing institutional weaknesses. The Act on IICSA campaign was launched to push for these recommendations, agreed by the Home Office to be enshrined in legislation.
Main Recommendations of the IICSA Report
- Abolition of Limitation Periods: IICSA recommended the removal of the time limit (limitation periods) for civil claims related to child sexual abuse. Currently, survivors often face a three-year limitation period (starting from when they turn 18 or from the date of knowledge of the abuse), which has been criticized for being too restrictive given the profound impact of abuse on victims, who may take years or decades to come forward.
- National Redress Scheme: Establish a scheme to provide financial compensation and support to victims and survivors of abuse.
- Child Protection Agency: Create an independent Child Protection Agency to oversee and enforce safeguarding standards.
- Mandatory Reporting: Introduce a legal duty for professionals working with children to report known or suspected child sexual abuse to appropriate authorities
- Specialist Support Services: Ensure better access to therapeutic services for victims and survivors, funded consistently across regions.
- Regulation of Religious and Cultural Settings: Strengthen safeguarding requirements for all organizations, including faith-based and cultural groups, that work with children.
- Improved Criminal Justice Responses: Enhance support for victims in the criminal justice process, ensuring fair treatment and sensitivity.
- Prevention Efforts: Increase investment in educational programs to prevent child sexual abuse and improve public awareness.
The Civil Justice System
The first four headline recommendations are most important to us, as Civil Litigation Lawyers, who find the hurdles, which get in our way of achieving a successful outcome for our clients, most frustrating. We turn away more clients than we accept (6 out of 10 on average). We estimate that, as an Association, we must reject between 4000 and 5000 survivors of abuse per year.
- Limitation or Time Delay – in Scotland Limitation Periods in Child Abuse cases have been abolished. There is something pernicious that punishes a child who has been threatened by his/her abuser for not reporting the abuse at the time, before time ran out at the age of 21, and then later at, say, the age of 55 because time has run out.
- Redress Scheme: a less combative conciliatory system of compensation that is not restricted by time limits and denials by the abuser or his/her employers and with none of the impediments of the CICA (Criminal Injury Compensation Authority) scheme.
- Mandatory Reporting – a law which makes it a criminal offence not to report abuse that is either known or suspected by someone in the child care arena with responsibilities towards children. So often have we civil litigation lawyers come across the turning of blind eyes by institutions who have placed the reputation of the organisation higher in priority to the reporting of abuse either known or suspected.
- Child Protection Agency—an all-encompassing authority with emphasis and concentration of resources on the welfare of children.
The Act on IICSA Campaign:
The Act on IICSA campaign, led by the Survivor’s Trust, was initiated to urge the UK government to prioritize and implement the IICSA recommendations through legislation. Key focuses of the campaign include:
- Child Protection Agency – create a new agency with focus purely on the welfare and protection of Children
- Justice for Survivors: Ensuring victims have access to justice and support through the National Redress Scheme.
- Public Mobilization: Engaging the public to pressure policymakers into committing to legislative reforms.
The campaign emphasizes that implementing these changes is crucial to safeguarding children and addressing the long-lasting impacts of abuse on survivors.
