People working with children face legal duty to report signs of sexual abuse

Back view of a child on a swing (Credits: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A legal duty for people who work with children to report any signs of sexual abuse is to be introduced in England, the home secretary has said.

Suella Braverman is set to spell out details for the plan, which aims to tackle grooming gangs and better protect children, in the coming days.

It comes after the publishing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse last year, which described the issue as an ‘epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake’.

Set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, the inquiry heard from more than 6,000 victims and 725 witnesses across seven years to form a damning picture of institutional failings in England and Wales.

It concluded that people in positions of trust should be compelled by law to report child sexual abuse.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Ms Braverman said: ‘Had this duty been in place already, countless children would have been better protected against grooming gangs and against sexual abusers more widely.

‘That is why I have committed to introduce mandatory reporting across the whole of England.’

Further measures to tackle grooming gangs are expected to be set out by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tomorrow.

The new measures are set to be introduced by Suella Braverman, the home secretary (Picture: Getty Images)

In her article for the paper, the home secretary described people in safeguarding jobs as ‘valued public servants’, and said the ‘overwhelming majority’ already considered it a duty to report signs of abuse.

However, she said she wanted to ‘ensure those who fail to do so face the full force of the law’.

She added: ‘Some crimes, if left unpunished, create such a burning sense of injustice among the public that they singe the fabric of our social contract.

‘When the most vulnerable people cannot rely on protection from those entrusted to safeguard them, cannot rely on the police to defend them, and cannot rely on the courts to deliver them justice, then the legitimacy of our democratic institutions is called into question.’

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