Developments in child protection following the Grooming Gangs audit and inquiry

Child safeguarding has been a priority issue for the government and regulators in recent years.

As well as moving up the political agenda, there has been a shift in public attitudes, with a broader understanding and acknowledgement towards the victims of abuse and exploitation. Safeguarding and protection is widely discussed. Media interest continues to press for answers and solutions.

This heightened focus has resulted in new and proposed changes to policy, regulations and legislation. As a result of numerous consultations, inquiries, reports and audits, there have been several developments which will impact all aspects of the public sector.

Here, we highlight the key developments following the publication of the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs.

Background

Baroness Casey published the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in June 2025.

This highlighted repeat patterns of scandal and public outrage leading to bursts of government focus, but then no sustained improvement. The intention of the audit was to provide an opportunity for the government, policing, justice and safeguarding agencies and the country as a whole to draw a line in the sand between all previous reviews and to commit to a series of significant actions.

Recommendations

The Audit made the following 12 recommendations:

1. The law in England and Wales should be changed so that any adult who intentionally penetrates a child under the age of 16 receives a mandatory rape charge.
2. A national police operation and national inquiry, coordinating a series of targeted investigations should be launched into child sexual exploitation in England and Wales with perpetrators prosecuted promptly.
3. Review and quash the criminal convictions of victims of child sexual exploitation where they were criminalised instead of protected. 
4. Mandatory collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in child sexual abuse and criminal exploitation cases.
5. Mandatory sharing of information between all statutory safeguarding partners in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation, to be overseen by the proposed Child Protection Authority.
6. The Department of Education to move swiftly to introduce unique reference numbers for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share information about children at risk of child sexual abuse.
7. Police systems to be upgraded to provide for use of the unique reference numbers referred to above.
8. Child sexual exploitation investigations should be approached like Serious and Organised crime.
9. The Department of Education should urgently interrogate child protection data and to examine the reason for variations across local authorities and review the effectiveness of Serious Incident investigations.
10. The government to commission research into the drivers for group based child sexual exploitation, including online and cultural factors.
11. The Department of Transport should take immediate action to put a stop to “out of area taxis” and bring about more rigorous standards for local authority licensing and regulation of taxi drivers.
12. The government should commit to fully resource and track the implementation of these recommendations over multiple years with regular reports to parliament.

Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs

On 9 December 2025 the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs was established in response to recommendation 2 of Baroness Casey’s audit.

Baroness Longfield CBE is to Chair the Inquiry with panellists Zoe Billingham CBE and Eleanor Kelly CBE. The Chair is to consult on the draft terms of reference and the final terms of reference are to be published in March, when the Inquiry will be formally established.

The purpose of the Inquiry is to identify failings in historic and current practice in tackling grooming gangs in local areas across England and Wales. It will identify systemic, institutional and individual failures and make recommendations for improvement both nationally and at local level. It will look at how ethnicity, religion and culture play a role in responses at local and national level as well as other issues outlined in the National Audit.

Comment

The recommendations of Baroness Casey’s Audit and the findings of the Independent Inquiry will affect every part of the public sector. We anticipate significant issues arising in relation to data protection, the Equality Act, malicious prosecution, misfeasance and Human Rights Act claims.

We will continue to track developments in these areas and will provide regular updates.

Related content

• Child protection developments – update for the public sector
• Developments in child protection following the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse