Australia’s child abuse redress scheme case backlog almost doubles in 10 months

The redress scheme has been operating for nearly five years after being set up in the wake of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. Photograph: Lukas Coch/EPA

The backlog of active cases before the child abuse redress scheme has almost doubled in less than 10 months, increasing delays in processing survivors’ claims and prompting renewed calls for greater resourcing.

Data released by the scheme this week shows it is processing 7,823 claims from survivors, a sharp increase on the 4,196 as of 27 January.