27/06/2025
Written by Deborah Jeremiah, Nicky Williams, and Eve Mikhael
Background
Baroness Casey, who was commissioned by the Government to undertake a national audit of the nature, scale and characteristics of gang-based child sexual exploitation has now delivered her Report. The report was to specifically look into ethnicity, and the cultural and social drivers for these offences. Baroness Casey has long been involved in this area having published an earlier Report in 2015 which dealt specifically with the Rotherham grooming gang cases.
We have previously commented on the changing picture for public bodies in relation to child sexual exploitation. Please refer to our previous article for a summary of the Government’s commitment to strengthening the current legislative framework to combat child sexual exploitation.
Recommendations of the Casey Report
There were 12 recommendations made by Baroness Casey in her Report. These recommendations have been summarised below, but a full list of the recommendations, along with Government’s response to them, can be found here.
The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has confirmed that the Government will accept all 12 of the Recommendations and whilst the scope of the National Inquiry has yet to be confirmed, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also said that it “will go wherever it needs to go”.
Recommendation 1
The law in England and Wales should be changed so adults who commit certain types of sexual abuse of a child under 16 (see detail in link) should receive mandatory charges of rape.
Recommendation 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.
Recommendation 3
Review the criminal convictions of victims of child sexual exploitation. Disregard any convictions where the Government finds victims were criminalised instead of protected.
Recommendation 4
The Government should make mandatory the collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in child sexual abuse and criminal exploitation cases and work with the police to improve the collection of ethnicity data for victims.
Recommendation 5
Mandatory sharing of information should be enforced between all statutory safeguarding partners in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Compliance should be monitored by the inspectorates and overseen by the proposed Child Protection Authority.
Recommendation 6
The Department for Education should move swiftly to introduce unique reference numbers for children to improve opportunities for agencies to better share their information about children at risk of child sexual abuse.
Recommendation 7
Police information systems should be upgraded. These systems should also provide for the use of the unique reference numbers for children which are being introduced by the Department for Education.
Recommendation 8
CSE investigations should be approached like Serious and Organised Crime.
Recommendation 9
The DfE should urgently interrogate child protection data to identify the causes of the decline in child sexual abuse and exploitation representation in child in need assessment data; examine the reasons for variations across local authorities; and review the effectiveness of Serious Incident Notifications in relation to child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Recommendation 10
The Government should commission research into the drivers for group-based child sexual exploitation, including online offending, cultural factors and the role of the group.
Recommendation 11
The Department for Transport should take immediate action to put a stop to ‘out of area taxis’ and bring in more rigorous statutory standards for local authority licensing and regulation of taxi drivers.
Recommendation 12
The Government should commit to fully resourcing the implementation of these recommendations over multiple years and to tracking their implementation across Departments and other organisations, with regular reports to Parliament.
Next steps for Local Authorities, and agencies working with Children / Young People?
The remit and powers of the newly announced National Inquiry will remain highly anticipated and Bevan Brittan will publish further updates and guidance as the position evolves. However, both public bodies and private providers of children’s care, housing or education, should certainly consider taking early advice in the event that they are given ‘Concerned Party’ status at the Inquiry.
Similarly, the remaining Recommendations of the Casey Report will require careful consideration as more detail becomes available. For example, the current broad wording of Recommendation 5 (“Mandatory sharing of information should be enforced between all statutory safeguarding partners in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Compliance should be monitored by the inspectorates and overseen by the proposed Child Protection Authority”) could have wide ranging implications in terms of the disclosure of sensitive material alone and will require much closer definition if the relevant ‘partners’ are to comply. Whether this is achieved by ‘Memoranda of Understanding’ or by statute, it represents a significant shift in the current safeguarding landscape.
Inquiries and Investigations Support - How can Bevan Brittan help?
Our teams are working with clients involved in many of the largest public inquiries. We have worked as the Official Solicitor, as well as representing Core Participants, advising clients throughout the inquiry process, including the following:
- Preparing for an inquiry – document identification and retention
- Application for Core Participant status
- Managing engagement with the inquiry and responding to Rule 9 requests
- Preparation of witness statements, including witness familiarisation with the inquiry process
- Reviewing material disclosed by the inquiry
- Advice on confidentiality and data protection
- Managing engagement with current and former staff
- Anticipating reputational risk and managing internal and external communications
- Procedural challenges to inquiries
- Advice on inquiry warning letters
For further support in this area please contact Deborah Jeremiah, Tracey Longfield or Nicky Williams.
