People working with children in England will be put under a new legal duty to report “signs or suspicions” of sexual abuse, the Home Secretary has said. The Government is expected to set out details of plans in the coming days to tackle grooming gangs and better protect children.
It comes after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse last year described sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”. The seven-year inquiry into institutional failings in England and Wales concluded that people in positions of trust should be compelled by law to report child sexual abuse.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Suella Braverman said that the inquiry “recommended that the Government should introduce a mandatory duty for professionals with safeguarding responsibilities to report any signs or suspicions of such abuse”.
