Ministers are facing growing calls for a national inquiry into the actions of rape gangs in cities across the UK, after Elon Musk reopened the decades-old scandal.
However, an authoritative 2022 study has laid out a blueprint for how to address this issue.
“We are tired of the inquiries, consultations and discussions,” report author Professor Alexis Jay said on Tuesday. “We have identified the action that is needed and people should move forward with it.”
What should be done?
The Jay Report into child sexual abuse made 20 detailed recommendations, with a call for the Conservative government today to publish the steps it has taken within six months.
These measures included introducing a legal requirement for individuals in certain professions to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the relevant authorities.
The investigation also called for the development of a national redress plan to provide compensation to victims, and the establishment of a child protection body with powers to inspect any institution associated with children.
Many of the recommended changes did not happen, either because they were not implemented or because last year's general election halted laws that were passing through Parliament.
What really happened?
One of the key recommendations was more robust age verification on websites, as well as mandatory online pre-screening of sexual images of children.
While the previous government introduced the Online Safety Bill 2023, which expected social media platforms to enforce age limits and age verification, it did not include pre-screening of sexual images of children and young people. The law became the Internet Safety Law, which takes full effect this year.
The main recommendation of the Jay Review was that people working with children should face criminal penalties if they fail to report allegations of sexual abuse. On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised to include this in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill.
She also said the government would legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing for child sexual offences.
Downing Street insisted that plans were already underway to turn these changes into law before Musk raised the issue last week.
“We are working at a rapid pace to consider all recommendations,” she added. “These recommendations were made in 2022 and have not been acted upon by the last government, and this government has already begun to act on these recommendations.”
What didn't happen?
However, many recommendations have not yet been made. These recommendations include ending the three-year maximum for victims of child sexual abuse to file a personal injury claim; a national plan for financial redress for victims; and changes to the criminal injury compensation system.
Following the release of the Jay Review, the previous Conservative government promised to consult on these measures, but never turned them into law.
The report also called for providing therapeutic support to victims, which was not implemented.
Schemes that prevent some people from working with children have not been enacted and expanded abroad.
A dedicated children's minister has also been recommended, although the current Conservative and Labor governments have said the responsibility actually falls to the education secretary.
What will happen next?
On Wednesday, the opposition Conservative Party will seek to intensify pressure on the government by trying to force a vote in the House of Commons on holding a new investigation into the grooming gang scandal.
The Tories put forward a “common sense amendment” to the Children’s Welfare and Schools Bill, calling for a full national inquiry.
They said Guy's report only looked at six specific towns – when luring gangs had operated in more than 40 towns in the past – and accused the government of “obstructing a full national investigation”.
But Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said Guy had already conducted a comprehensive report with testimony from more than 700 victims.
She added: “If (Jay's) recommendations are implemented, if there is more work to be done, then of course we will do that work.”
What about prosecutions and convictions?
In 2014, the UK launched Operation Stovewood, described as “the largest single law enforcement investigation into extra-familial child sexual exploitation and abuse in the UK”.
Some 39 people were convicted, according to the National Crime Agency, and imprisoned for a total of almost 500 years.
Ten prosecutions were listed for this year and 2026, and there were more than 40 ongoing investigations, according to the National Crime Agency. More than 220 people were arrested or came to the police station voluntarily.
Two brothers are due to be sentenced in Sheffield next week after being found guilty last month of raping girls 18 years ago and plying the young victims with drugs and alcohol before luring them to the sites where they attacked them.
In October, three brothers were found guilty of child sex offenses in Barrow and Leeds between 1996 and 2010. The girls who were abused by two brothers were only six or seven years old when the abuse began, and it continued for several years, according to the Crown. Public Prosecution Service.
Last year's sentences also include convictions of a former limousine driver who the Crown Prosecution Service said “systematically lured and abused young girls” in the Rotherham area between 2005 and 2015. The man was sentenced to 24 years in prison after being found guilty of several crimes. Sex crimes against eight girls, aged between 12 and 17 at the time.
