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Police chiefs, head teachers, faith groups and charities are among a major coalition urging the Starmer government to immediately implement recommendations from the child sex abuse inquiry amid a growing political row over the grooming gang scandal.
The group, made up of 65 major charities, community leaders and abuse survivors, has said they have “significant concerns” about the government’s failure to act on proposals made by the chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in 2022.
The inquiry was thrown back into limelight this week after the Tory party backed calls from billionaire Elon Musk to establish a new national probe into grooming gangs, voted down in parliament on Wednesday night.
In a letter sent to the home secretary and shared with The Independent, the coalition – which includes the National Police Chiefs Council, National Association of Head Teachers, and the Muslim Council of Great Britain – said that, despite renewed interest in tackling widespread sexual abuse, “survivors are once again being spoken about and on behalf of without anyone actually listening to what is needed”.
Sheanna Patelmaster, 29, who is a survivor member of the group, said ministers should step back from “partisan fighting”, adding: “There is plenty that both parties could and should be doing that they are not”.
The letter criticised the slow action on recommendations made by Professor Alexis Jay in her report into child sexual abuse.
A key recommendation in the 2022 report was for the government to introduce a “national guarantee” that child victims of sexual abuse would be offered specialist therapeutic support, and that these services would be fully funded.
Prof Jay also called for a cabinet-level minister for children to make sure their welfare is a goverment priority.
In their letter to Yvette Cooper, campaigners articulated their concerns through the voice of one member, who is a survivor of child sexual abuse, and cannot be identified.
The survivor said that they had been “left feeling hollow” by the renewed debate on child sexual abuse in the UK.
They added that there had not been “any movement on increasing or making more available specific support services for those who have been sexually abused as a child (which remains a key recommendation from IICSA).” This was despite Ms Cooper announcing this week that it will become mandatory to report abuse, that grooming will become an aggravating factor in the sentencing of offences, and a single core data set will be set up on child abuse and protection.
The letter continued: “There was no announcement on having senior level representation in government for those who have experienced child sexual abuse. I’m just not sure we are actually any further.”
The survivor concluded: “I feel like survivors, are once again, being spoken about and on behalf of without anyone actually listening to what is needed.”
The group, called the IICSA changemakers, was set up after the publication of Prof Jay’s report. Other organisations in the coalition include children’s charity NSPCC, who helped coordinate the letter, the Internet Watch Foundation, the Methodist Church, Rape Crisis and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Ms Patelmaster said that Prof Jay’s seven-year inquiry had already “come up with the right solutions but nothing has changed”.
Ms Patelmaster, who has spoken about being abused when she was a junior member of the Scouts, argued the situation in the UK is “arguably less safe now because of cuts to local services”. She called for support services for victims of child sexual abuse to be implemented through the NHS and be properly funded by government.
“The earlier you step in to help survivors the better. If you don’t help people deal with what has happened to them as kids then problems spiral, it affects those around them, and the costs of dealing with the affects down the line are much larger”, she said.
Ms Patelmaster said she didn’t feel a new grooming gang inquiry would be helpful. “We know what the solutions are and we need cross-governmental work to fix it,” she said.
On Monday, Ms Cooper told MPs that “far too little has actually been done” to tackle child sexual abuse despite multiple inquiries making recommendations in light of the grooming gang scandal.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is focused on delivering meaningful change for victims impacted by these horrendous crimes and has wasted no time in working through the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendations and implementing them.
“The Minister for Safeguarding has already engaged with victims, survivors and the Changemakers group. We look forward to continued engagement as we drive forward change.”
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