NEWS

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6 02, 2023

IICSA’s final report recommendations fail to address its own reasoning

February 6th, 2023|

IICSA’s recommendation for mandatory reporting makes little sense. It is also contrary to the evidence and reasoning the inquiry includes in its own report.

This article is a summary of the detailed: Mandate Now two column review of the key recommendations made in the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.  

Deserving of its own article is this: IICSA’s seeming misunderstandings of law contained in its final report. 

(more…)

6 02, 2023

IICSA’s Final Report is incorrect on several matters of safeguarding law

February 6th, 2023|

Please consider also reading our article : IICSA’s final report recommendations fail to address its own reasoning

There are several points in the IICSA Final Report in which the panel appears to be in error on matters of law.

 

Page 200, paragraph 74

The Children Act 2004 places named statutory bodies in England and in Wales under a duty to ensure that their functions are discharged “having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”. These statutory bodies include local authorities, NHS organisations, the police, prisons and young offender institutions, the probation service and youth offending teams. They must follow statutory guidance, published by the Department for Education (Working Together to Safeguard Children in England and Working Together to Safeguard People in Wales).

This statutory duty is considered part of “public law”. There is no criminal sanction if the individuals running the bodies fail to comply with the duty. Nor is the duty actionable in a civil claim for damages, though a breach of this duty might be used in support of a civil claim such as a claim for negligence. It is a broad statement of principle to which regard must be had, rather than a hard-edged obligation. (more…)

16 11, 2022

IICSA final report 20.10.22 – a flurry of pulled punches

November 16th, 2022|

“If you know what’s good for you, keep quiet and do your job.”

This phrase was mentioned in one of IICSA’s reports as being the response of a head teacher to a member of staff who had concerns about a colleague. We now know her concerns were justified because the colleague in question, Father David Pearce of Ealing Abbey, was subsequently convicted of 11 counts of child sex abuse and jailed for 5 years. Had her concerns been acted on earlier, Pearce’s later victims would not have suffered. IICSA received huge quantities of evidence of this kind of incident leading to non-reporting of suspected abuse. This is the context in which the IICSA recommendations must be judged – will they help prevent this happening again?

IICSA’s final report includes 20 recommendations. Three of them are key to detecting and (ideally) preventing and deterring abuse.

  • Mandatory reporting.
  • Child Protection Authorities for England and for Wales.
  • Improving compliance with the statutory duty to notify the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Unfortunately they are all underpowered and unlikely to make the big change needed.

Mandatory reporting

The recommendation starts well.

The Inquiry recommends that the UK government and Welsh Government introduce legislation which places certain individuals – ‘mandated reporters’ – under a statutory duty to report child sexual abuse where they:

  • receive a disclosure of child sexual abuse from a child or perpetrator; or
  • witness a child being sexually abused; or
  • observe recognised indicators of child sexual abuse.

This is exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately, it is almost entirely undone by the text at the end of the recommendation, defining what the mandatory reporting law should require.

It should be a criminal offence for mandated reporters to fail to report child sexual abuse where they:

  • are in receipt of a disclosure of child sexual abuse from a child or perpetrator; or
  • witness a child being sexually abused.

What happened to “observe recognised indicators of child sexual abuse”? It’s been called mandatory but hasn’t made it into the proposed law recommended by IICSA. This is quite deliberate on IICSA’s part, paragraph 117 of this section of the report states:

Where a mandated reporter recognises indicators of child sexual abuse (but has not directly witnessed abuse or received a disclosure of abuse from an alleged perpetrator or victim), it would not be appropriate to enforce the duty to report with criminal sanctions.

This is a version of mandatory reporting in use nowhere else in the world to our knowledge. It’s not in use because it has almost no merit. Child sex abuse happens most often in secret, there are hardly ever any witnesses, still less witnesses who are mandated reporters. So making it mandatory to report witnessed abuse helps very little.

Perpetrators rarely disclose abuse but an exception as we know can be during confession. Even if they are deluded enough to believe that their victims welcome their attentions, and therefore they think that morally speaking they are doing nothing wrong, they know they are committing an offence and will be punished if caught. So they don’t usually tell anyone except perhaps someone who shares their interest in children.  

And children rarely disclose sexual abuse for well-established reasons. As IICSA Chair Alexis Jay said in her press statement announcing the report “many victims only disclose their abuse after many years, the average time being 26 years”. With this average, the proportion of children disclosing while still children, and so triggering a mandatory duty to report, is going to be vanishingly small.

IICSA has proposed a law mandating people to report in circumstances that hardly ever happen. It does nothing to support those adults working in Regulated Activities who have suspicions and dare not report, and it does nothing to protect those who want to report but are threatened into keeping quiet. IICSA’s recommendation is mandatory reporting in-name-only (‘MINO’) and has the appearance of having been specifically designed to make no difference to the number of referrals of child sexual abuse while claiming England and Wales have mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. In MR jurisdictions child sexual abuse accounts for ~10% of total referrals with Mandated Reporters accounting for just over half of these.

Meanwhile live in Parliament, at the time of posting this article, is a Private Members Bill tabled by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson to introduce mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by Regulated Activities. It makes use of our current legislative model and is designed to support staff to report prescribed concerns. It’s evidenced, has operating precedent, and provides everything IICSA’s proposal does not. 

Here is a submission to IICSA from Prof Mathews for proposed legislation for the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in England and Wales – starts at paragraph 5 page 9.

Child Protection Authorities for England and for Wales

There’s the germ of a good idea here which looks to have been partly copied from The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Australia. IICSA’s version is hobbled by inadequate execution. A CPA is proposed for each country to:

  • improve practice in child protection,
  • make recommendations to government,
  • monitor implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations, and
  • inspect institutions as necessary

The first three points are fine. The inspection part would be good if not messed up within the detailed description in the report. At the moment Ofsted and ISI inspect schools, both for education provision and safeguarding, though they spend most of their time on education. IICSA has heard numerous examples of failures by Ofsted and ISI to detect safeguarding failings. So to move their safeguarding functions to a new specialist body is a good idea and something we recommended to and expected from the inquiry. Except IICSA hasn’t done that. Ofsted and ISI continue as before. The CPAs will be able to do additional inspections if they choose, both on settings inspected by other inspectorates and on settings currently uninspected by anyone, such as youth clubs and places of worship. The duplication involved is a recipe for chaos and turf wars.

It’s made worse by the fact that the CPAs will have no regulatory or enforcement powers. IICSA says that “The public exposure of failings in any report is envisaged to be sufficient to bring about the necessary changes.” This is embarrassingly naïve. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England for instance have had decades of bad publicity about safeguarding and seem to have learned little from it.

Disclosure and Barring Service

Failure to make DBS referrals often went unnoticed by Ofsted and ISI. They also never inspected against referrals because, as we discovered some years ago, they were not in receipt of these before inspecting a school.  The proposal that “all relevant regulators and inspectorates now include compliance with the statutory duty to refer to the Disclosure and Barring Service” is welcome.

Although there is already a mandatory obligation for schools and other organisations to make a safeguarding referral to the DBS in prescribed circumstances, there has never been a prosecution for failure to do so. The inquiry heard several cases where failure to make a DBS referral was uncovered but the setting was told to do nothing more than retrospectively make a referral. (This line of questioning was taken directly from one of our submissions to the inquiry’s Chair.) IICSA recommends that “the National Police Chiefs’ Council works with relevant regulators and inspectorates to ensure that there are clear arrangements in place to refer breaches of the duty to the police for criminal investigation”.

This is a clear acknowledgement that there have been no such arrangements in the past.  Our letter to the Chair of IICSA (above) set out further weaknesses in this system that also need to be addressed. The problem with IICSA’s proposal is there will still be no defined single body responsible for mounting prosecutions, and we are concerned that no change will occur in practice. People believe that the DBS screening provides effective protection, but it is only as good as the data it is fed.

In conclusion, IICSA has given us three key recommendations – mandatory reporting, Child Protection Agencies, and better DBS enforcement. All three are good ideas in principle, but they need to be well-designed and implemented effectively to do any good. The first two have been so thoroughly hamstrung as to be of limited value, the last is possibly useful but depends on effective arrangements which have not been spelled out in any detail.

We will be providing a granular review of the big-ticket safeguarding recommendations in January 2023.

21 07, 2022

Mandate Now’s model for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse used in Private Members Bill

July 21st, 2022|

On 20th July 2022 Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson tabled a Private Members Bill : Regulated and Other Activities (Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse) Bill [HL]

Please download it here.

The Bill ran out of time but what it revealed was just how lacklustre the IICSA recommendation was for mandatory reporting in principle.

We are optimistic there will in future be further opportunities to table  legislation.

 

21 07, 2022

Private Members Bill to introduce mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse

July 21st, 2022|

On 20th July 22, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson introduced a Private Members Bill titled :

 

Regulated and Other Activities (Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse) Bill [HL]

It’s available in full here.

It coincided with us updating our model for MR on the 16th July which in summary, mandates prescribed personnel who work with children in ‘Regulated Activities’, to report known and suspected child sexual abuse to specified agencies. Importantly, mandated reporters are also provided with significant protection against ‘detriment.’

It ran out of time.

16 07, 2022

Update to our legislative proposal for Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse by Regulated Activities [16.07.2022]

July 16th, 2022|

We are pleased to provide our updated legislative proposal dated 16.07.22 for the introduction of mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse by those working in Regulated Activities. Several people have kindly contributed to this important update which conforms to the design expectations of contemporary legislation tabled in Parliament.

Our proposal is available here for download

It’s a timely update in light of the IICSA final report which seems likely to be published in October 2022.

16 07, 2022

Index of News Articles

July 16th, 2022|

UPDATE: On 16 July 2022 we updated our proposal for the introduction of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.  A few days later Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson tabled it in her Private Members Bill.  Lady Grey-Thompson’s bill would have had a significant positive impact on institutional safeguarding unlike the lamentable IICSA final report recommendation of 20.10.22.   

 

Index of News Articles

The Government’s useless Child Sexual Abuse Reporting law13/05/24
Home Office "MR" consultation #2. It's not MR!23/11/23
IICSA’s final report first anniversary - government is looking on and doing little18/10/23
Private Eye news 8.9.23 – Letby and observations about mandatory reporting08/09/2023
Scotsman article 31.7.23 - Mandatory reporting laws of child sexual abuse on the table31/07/23
Our submission to the Home Office consultation: Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse17/07/2023
“The mountain hath laboured and brought forth a mouse.” The Government Response to IICSA 22.5.2322/05/23
Here are the 779 submissions made to the 2016 ‘Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect’ consultation. Councils, Royal College’s healthcare, education, faith, NGO’s and similar31/01/2020
The hope offered in the Home Secs Statement to HoC on 4/2/15 has been replaced by a bunker mindset at IICSA30/10/2015
Yvette Cooper calls for change to law after abuse scandal30/08/2014
House of Lords 28.10.14 | Serious Crimes Bill Amendment 43 [ Mandatory Reporting ] – Report 2nd Day29/10/2014
Surrey Police Operation Outreach Report – Activities of Savile at Duncroft School | At least 22 Pupils Abused29/04/2015
It’s inconceivable IICSA will not recommend well-designed Mandatory Reporting. But must we wait until 2021?28/12/2019
CSAInquiry : INDEPENDENT PANEL INQUIRY INTO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE | Panel Statement | November 26 201428/11/2014
Sir Keir Starmer former DPP – “the case for mandatory reporting of #CSA is now overwhelming”28/08/2014
‘Detriment’ can be experienced by staff who report child abuse. Our updated legislative proposal addresses it28/02/2022
Abuse in Football – that sofa on VictoriaLIVE and the positive impact It could have on safeguarding27/11/2016
Stanbridge Earls School: the saga continues. Ofsted got it repeatedly wrong, now the Charity Commission. Who next?27/10/2015
Mandate Now Submission to Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – #MRseminar (1) 27/9/1827/09/2018
A Confused NSPCC statement on BBC r4 Today Programme 9/7/14 about Mandatory Reporting27/08/2014
Department of Health Report (Savile) Kate Lampard27/06/2014
Ideology stops government introducing well-designed Mandatory Reporting27/03/2023
The impact of poorly designed mandatory reporting is far-reaching27/03/2023
Recent Coverage Media Contributions around The Disappointing DoH Lampard Review Published on 26/2/1527/02/2015
Lawn Tennis Association Safeguarding remains dysfunctional 27/01/2019
NSPCC – ‘The Dog Ate My Transcript’: the very odd occurrences following a debate on #MandatoryReporting27/01/2015
HoC Briefing Paper | ‘Child Protection: duties to report concerns’ | Our critical review of a flawed document26/10/2021
Hear no evil, see no evil: observations on a paper presented by Prof Munro and Dr Fish to CA Royal Commission26/10/2015
House of Lords 28.10.14 | Serious Crimes Bill Amendment 43 [ Mandatory Reporting ] – Report 2nd Day26/10/2014
Review of Option 2 of MR Consult: Introduce a Mandatory Reporting Duty in Relation to Child Abuse26/09/2016
Department of Health release the report by Lampard – BBC interview (Savile abuses) 26/06/2014
Alternative Perspective on NSPCC – closing ‘Loopholes in Sport’ VictoriaLIVE 26.1.1726/01/2017
Mandate Now Review of : Summary of consultation responses and Government action following #MRconsult25/09/2018
Cardinal Vincent Nichols r4Sunday 21/4/19. Child abuse – a straight answer to a straight question is outside the Cardinal’s repertoire25/04/2019
Update – IICSA / CA Royal Comm data comparison24/12/2018
The Impending Mandatory Reporting Consultation; the dynamics RA abuse and NSPCC understanding of it24/10/2015
Mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse are essential for kids and society: Professor Ben Mathews24/03/2017
Tom Watson MP questions Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove about Mandatory Reporting24/03/2014
Michael Gove : ‘Victim of abuse made a ‘compelling’ case for mandatory reporting’24/03/2014
No Reliance can be Placed on a Report Used by Academics and others to Dismiss Mandatory Reporting – here’s why23/11/2015
MandateNow response to an @Barnardos statement on Mandatory Reporting of 18th September 201423/09/2014
Spectator article Against Mandatory Reporting: A Blizzard of Ill-informed Comment23/06/2016
HoC debate on NC 17 Opposition Amendment to introduce alleged #MandatoryReporting23/02/2015
Two research papers on #MRCA by Dr Ben Mathews of QUT with one stemming from @CARoyalComm Australia | #CSAinquiry22/11/2014
Letter to IICSA from multiple signatories following the presentation by the Department for Education to the MR Seminar (1) 27.9.1822/10/2018
Remaining silent about child abuse can’t be an option – Times Scotland 21.9.1922/08/2019
How much does Barnardo’s really care for vulnerable children? | Why did it sign an Independent Advocacy Contract with the Youth Justice Board at Medway in which it agreed to not refer child protection concerns to Local Authority?22/02/2019
The Labour #MR amendment to the Serious Crimes Bill is debated tomorrow. @SkyNews interview22/02/2015
Mothers of Prevention | Organised Child Sexual Exploitation – Sunday Times Magazine 30/9/07 by Julie Bindel21/08/2018
Mandate Now’s model for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse used in Private Members Bill21/07/2022
Review of : “The Scale and nature of child abuse” by The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse | Its value is limited21/07/2021
#MR Bill Underway for USA Athletes following Senate Hearing and Grey-Thompson Now Wants It21/04/2017
The cut n’ paste safeguarding policy at Crewe Alexandra Football Club needs to be scrapped. Here’s why21/03/2019
The Labour opposition amendment to the Serious Crimes Bill designed to allegedly introduce #MandatoryReporting – Doesn’t.21/02/2015
BBC Child Protection Policy. Perfectly Legal but Useless21/01/2016
Mandate Now and NSPCC met on 29/6/15 to explore our Contrasting Positions on Mandatory Reporting20/07/2015
Key Speeches from HoL Debate 15.12.16 : Allegations of child sexual abuse within football clubs19/12/2016
Where is the MR seminar IICSA? A letter sent 19/4/18 from lawyers acting for Core Participant abusees to Professor Jay19/04/2018
The Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel @churchofengland attempting to sell a counterfeit suggestion that mandatory reporting exists within the Church.19/03/2019
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse: Malcolm Underhill Speaks to Tom Perry of Mandate Now19/01/2016
Letter from Mandate Now to the @UKHomeOffice 7/2/15 regarding the ToRs and Scope of the #CSAinquiry18/02/2015
IICSA final report 20.10.22 – a flurry of pulled punches16/11/2022
CEOP Thematic Assessment The Foundations of Abuse: A thematic assessment of the risk of CSA by adults in institutions16/10/2013
Addenbrooke’s Hospital – Dr Myles Bradbury16/09/2014
Update to our legislative proposal for Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual abuse by Regulated Activities [16.07.2022]16/07/2022
Article in Community Care Magazine about Mandatory Reporting and the Whereabouts of the Consultation16/07/2016
A Lengthening List of Independent Schools Confused over Child Protection16/03/2016
‘The Church has some form of Mandatory Reporting’ (Peter Hancock – Lead Bishop for Safeguarding) | “Oh no it hasn’t!”16/01/2020
Confused Football Association safeguarding policy fails children15/12/2016
The Whyte Review – some considerations 15/10/2020
Where is the outcome of the Consultation – Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect15/09/2017
SERIOUS CRIMES BILL 3rd Day15/07/2014
IICSA Seminar 12.04.17 was Misinformed About Mandatory Reporting by UCLAN Assessment15/05/2017
Govt Secures NSPCC Support for Child Protection Proposal Designed to Fail14/11/2016
Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse14/05/2022
Still no reliance can be placed on Stoke Mandeville Child Protection Procedures despite #Savile + Salmon #CSAinquiry14/02/2015
MandateNow response to @NSPCC July policy briefing: Strengthening duties on professionals to report child abuse13/09/2014
Is safeguarding in sport fit for purpose? Our written submission to the House of Lords Sport and Recreation Committee13/06/2021
Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel (VSCP) – what is it for?13/04/2015
NSPCC Whistling Home Office Tune to Child Protection Inertia13/02/2015
The Mandate Now Response to: NSPCC policy position against Mandatory Reporting13/01/2014
NSPCC Statement about Mandatory Reporting on the r4Today programme13/01/2014
IICSA’s final report recommendations fail to address its own reasoning06/02/2023
IICSA’s Final Report is in error on several matters of law06/02/2023
Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only06/04/2022
Boarding Schools’ Association says it wants Mandatory Reporting. (as long as it doesn’t work)08/05/2021
Home Office: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021 | No strategy, few proposals and little money05/10/2021
Scotland : Child abuse victims are still going undetected  || Yet Scottish academics still mistakenly reject mandatory reporting11/11/2020
Mandate Now observations on Law in Sport article about mandatory reporting for sport03/08/2020
IICSA Anglican Hearing 3/7/19 – Observation about the work being undertaken by the Social Care Institute of Excellence for the Church of England10/07/2019
The Disclosure and Barring Service isn’t working reliably. How are unmade ‘mandatory’ referrals to the DBS discovered?10/06/2019
Top 10 Myths About Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church (Psychology Today) 1/8/19 and a reply from Tim Lennon the President of SNAP
04/08/2019
Oral question 1. HoL 10/9/18 : Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse regarding safeguarding failures at Downside and Ampleforth schools11/09/2018
Mysterious Omissions from the IICSA Report into Ampleforth and Downside10/08/2018
Mandatory Reporting Consultation : Government decides on costly retention of the failing status quo06/03/2018
Church of England Safeguarding is Dysfunctional and Can Have No Reliance Placed Upon It | A Review by Mandate Now02/03/2018
Child Protection in Football – An article in The Independent reliant on hearsay and hope06/03/2017
IICSA Chair responds to stinging Times article with a flurry of meaningless statistics03/11/2017
Australian Royal Commission data comparison with Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse03/11/2017
Bishop of Bath + Wells Faces a Morton’s Fork over MR. CofE Imagineers Attempt to Conceal ‘U’ Turn02/05/2017
West Berks SCB – The Unconvincing Serious Case Review into Child Sexual Abuse at Kennet School01/02/2017
Consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse ‘has been buried’ | Observer 4.09.1609/09/2016
Mandatory Reporting of Known and Suspected Abuse: Guardian and Observer Articles June 201608/06/2016
A Review of: MR law on reporting and identification of CSA: A seven year time trend analysis08/06/2016
Are These the Official Spokespeople for IICSA?07/09/2016
Mandate Now Submission to Consultation: Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect06/10/2016
Labour Party Submission to MRconsult. Good Objectives but Muddled Thinking05/12/2016
Signs the Government is increasingly panicked over calls for the introduction of Mandatory Reporting – #FAabuse04/12/2016
Mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse are essential for kids and society: Professor Ben Mathews03/09/2016
New Research: Impact of Mandatory Reporting Law : A Seven year Longitudinal Analysis03/05/2016
MN Response to Option 3 of MR Consult: Duty to Act in relation to child abuse and neglect02/10/2016
Mandate Now: Putting the spotlight on UK child abuse01/02/2016
Letters in Support of Bishop Peter Ball Make Extraordinary Reading. Here in Full01/01/2016
Regulated Activities are petri dishes for abuse – Mandate Now on preventing child abuse scandals09/03/2015
Prime Ministers reaction to Oxford #CSE report – law for Wilful Neglect. It’s inadequate as #MN explains on #bbcpm03/03/2015
More than 200,000 people call for mandatory reporting of child abuse.02/12/2015
Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect02/06/2015
Successive Govts Flee Mandatory Reporting on the Mistaken Grounds of Cost02/03/2015
The civil service dominated #IICSA : still not communicating despite representations01/10/2015
Child abuse needs mandatory reporting to create a high-risk environment for paedophiles: Independent March 201501/03/2015
Whatever happened to the @NSPCC? It wanted to talk, then on receiving the draft agenda fell silent.12/07/2014
Cheryl Gillan MP secures a meeting with for MandateNow with Michael Gove10/02/2014
Iain Dale @LBC to Harriet Harman: would you back a statutory inquiry? Erm ….. She then adopts the flawed Home Office position09/12/2014
Queens Speech debate House of Lords 3rd Day - Mandatory Reporting 09/06/2014
Baroness Walmsley in her debate on : Children and Vulnerable Adult Abuse08/07/2014
Ian Lee of BBC Three Counties Radio discusses the Wright trial (Caldicott School) with Tom Perry07/02/2014
MandateNow speaks with James O’Brien of @LBC Mandatory Reporting, child protection, and the state of the #CSAinquiry06/11/2014
Caldicott School - Trials and Outcomes06/02/2014
This is probably the most difficult speech I have ever made | Tackling Child Abuse | Best speech LD Conference 201505/10/2014
Baroness Walmsley’s Policy debate for introduction of Mandatory Reporting is approved at Lib Dem Conference05/10/2014
Cheryl Gillan MP (C) – Today raised key questions about #CSAinquiry in Topical Questions to the Leader of the House04/12/2014
Debate on the Address – [1st day] | Cheryl Gillan MP – Mandatory Reporting04/06/2014
HMIC’s review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile 1964 and 201211/03/2013
Home Affairs Committee: CSE and the response to localised grooming10/06/2013
14 05, 2022

Our updated legislative proposal for: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse

May 14th, 2022|

Several times in recent months we have updated our draft legislation for the introduction Mandatory Reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse by personnel working in Regulated Activities. Mandatory Reporting legislation is long overdue in England and Wales. We are out of step with the majority of jurisdictions in the rest of the world, 82% of which have some form of Mandatory Reporting.

Download our current legislative proposal here

IICSA will release its final report later this year. As we have stated previously we consider it inconceivable that the inquiry will fail to recommend well-designed Mandatory Reporting. The evidence demonstrates it’s a vital component of functioning safeguarding.

The law mandates Regulated Activity personnel to report known or suspected child sexual abuse on reasonable grounds while simultaneously protecting the reporter from detriment.

6 04, 2022

Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only

April 6th, 2022|

Mandate Now is an evidence led pressure group. For sometime we have been aware of the attendant risks of including physical abuse and neglect in our legislative objectives. Without evidence that clearly demonstrates physical abuse and neglect are positively addressed by the introduction of law, we have amended our objectives to mandatory reporting of suspected and known child sexual abuse only. The depth of evidence supporting the introduction of well-designed law applied to prescribed ‘Regulated Activities’ is significant. The key extract in our updated legislative proposal is here :

The revised proposal is here in full

Our submission to IICSA of 27.9.18 in advance of the MR seminars, revealed the direction of travel which today is crystallised in this update.

28 02, 2022

‘Detriment’ can be experienced by staff who report child abuse. Our updated legislative proposal for Mandatory Reporting addresses it.

February 28th, 2022|

From evidence given to IICSA , the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Hart Inquiry and the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, it is apparent that personnel working in Regulated Activities who do the right thing and adhere to discretionary ‘guidance’ and in some cases professional ‘expectation’ to report known or suspected child sexual abuse, often do so at great personal cost. We have heard of reporters being bullied, alienated from work colleagues, isolated and often forced out of the workplace through a variety of means including constructive dismissal.

To address this practice we took legal and academic advice and have updated our legislative proposal for the introduction of well-designed Mandatory Reporting by those employed in Regulated Activities such as teachers, sports coaches, clergy, healthcare personnel and many more.

The revised draft legislation can now be downloaded here.

For quick reference there are three new clauses to address ‘detriment’ which we feature below :

With mandated reporting of defined concerns supplemented by protection from ‘detriment’, our proposed legislation would put England and Wales on a par with the majority of jurisdictions in the rest of the world.