Violence, abuse and neglect, and child sexual exploitation: UK government action

The CRC recommendation was made in June 2023 and the ICESCR recommendation was made in March 2025.

UK Government’s response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)

In February 2025, the UK government proposed new legislative measures under the Crime and Policing Bill 2025 to tackle child sexual abuse, serious violence and violence against women and girls. This became law, as the Crime and Policing Act 2026, in April 2026. The act introduced measures to:

• include a mandatory reporting duty for professionals working with children to report sexual abuse
• make grooming a statutory aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences
• ensure that relevant roles are eligible for the highest level of check issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service
• remove the 3-year limit for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to bring personal injury claims in the civil courts

These were all recommended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

In April 2025, the government published an update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse and responded to all 20 of the recommendations of the IICSA, which included these activities. This included a commitment to amend the law of apologies to encourage organisations to apologise for action by current or former employees, including in cases of child sexual abuse. This has not yet been done. It also included a commitment to addressing gaps in the data on child sexual exploitation and abuse through implementing the recommendations of a National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which was commissioned in February 2025.

There was also a commitment to establishing a Child Protection Authority (CPA) to improve child protection, make the multi-agency child protection system clearer and ensure there are ongoing improvements through effective evidence-based support. In December 2025, the government launched a consultation on the establishment of a CPA. The consultation closed in March 2026.

However, in the update on its work to tackle child sexual abuse, the UK government stated that it would not be taking forward the IICSA’s recommendation to establish a national redress scheme for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in England and Wales. 

Other relevant inquiries and investigations

In February 2025, the UK government commissioned the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse to help identify how to improve data collection. The audit published its independent report in June 2025. The UK government responded to the audit’s report in January 2026, committing to implement all 12 of the audit’s recommendations.

Following the recommendations of the National Audit published in June 2025, in December 2025, the UK government launched an Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs. The inquiry has a £65 million budget over three years and will involve a series of local investigations overseen by a national panel, with full statutory powers to compel evidence and testimony.

Other actions to stop sexual exploitation and violence against children

In October 2023, the Online Safety Act 2023 became law. This sets out a range of new measures to protect children online. The child safety duties of the act came into force in July 2025 and include new measures to prevent stranger contact and new reporting mechanisms for children to flag inappropriate content.

In April 2026, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 became law. The act includes measures aimed at enabling the sharing of information for safeguarding purposes, and a requirement for safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams.

In April 2026, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 became law. The act bans AI-models optimised to produce child sexual abuse material, and extends existing law criminalising material that gives instructions on how to generate child sexual abuse material using AI. It also criminalises moderators and administrators of websites that host child sexual abuse material and gives Border Force officers the power to search the digital devices of people arriving in the UK for child sexual abuse material.

Assessment up to date as of June 2026.

Since the recommendation was made in June 2023, the UK government have not taken additional measures to ensure sections 21 and 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (YJCEA) 1999 are implemented. This legislation allows eligible witnesses, including all children, to pre-record their cross-examination or re-examination before the trial. Implementation of this legislation concluded in 2022 and the Ministry of Justice process evaluation was published in April 2023.  

Since the recommendation was made, there has also been no evidence that the UK government has taken steps to ensure that child victims of violence can access appropriate therapy as soon as they need it.  

Most mental health services are commissioned and budgeted for locally. Access is based on mental health symptoms, rather than certain experiences. Access and waiting time standards are only in place for: 

• early intervention in psychosis services
• children and young people’s eating disorder services
• NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression 

A Mental health policy and services in England research briefing from the House of Commons Library outlines these provisions. 

Assessment up to date as of December 2024.

The UK government has not repealed sections 134 (4) and (5) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. These sections create a defence for anyone charged with the offence of torture, if they can show that the action taken had ‘lawful authority, justification or excuse’.  

In July 2023, the UK government reiterated its view that UK law, including section 134 (4) and (5) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, is consistent with the obligations under the Convention against Torture. The UK response to the UN Committee Against Torture's list of issues outlines this.  

Assessment up to date as of December 2024.

The UK government has not changed section 47 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Under this legislation, it is illegal to pay for ‘the sexual services of a child’. According to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 Explanatory Notes  (paragraph 94), if the child is aged between 13 to 18, it is up to the prosecution to prove that the person paying for ‘the sexual services of a child’ does not reasonably believe that they are over 18. If the child is under 13, it is an offence regardless of any reasonable belief about their age.

Assessment up to date as of December 2024.

Since the recommendation was made in June 2023, the UK government has not commissioned an overarching independent inquiry into the deaths of children in alternative care settings.    

Since the recommendation was made in June 2023, the UK government has not commissioned an overarching, independent inquiry into the deaths of children in mental health care.  

In their response to a 2024 independent review into patient safety in mental health inpatient settings, the UK government stated they had set up a bespoke, ministerial-led steering group. The purpose of this group was to oversee a work programme based on the review’s recommendations. There is no evidence that this group has been convened.  

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care directed the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) to carry out an investigation into mental health inpatient settings in June 2023. In September 2024, HSSIB published an interim report. The report focusses on creating conditions for learning from deaths and ‘near misses’ in inpatient and community mental health services. However, this investigation does not have the same powers as an independent inquiry. 

In April 2024, the UK government set up an independent inquiry into the deaths of mental health patients in Essex, known as the Lampard Inquiry. The Lampard Inquiry’s Terms of Reference include some child and adolescent mental health services. For more information, read the explanatory note on the Lampard Inquiry’s Terms of Reference. 

Since the recommendation was made, the UK government has continued to ensure the collection and publication of some data on child deaths through its statutory and operational guidance for clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. All children’s deaths, including those in mental health settings, are reviewed by a Child Death Overview Panel on behalf of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The local board produces an annual report, which is a public document. However, there is no aggregated and standardised way to report data from these processes.   

NHS England also funds the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD). This is a national data collection and analysis system on the circumstances of children’s deaths. This detailed information is disaggregated by various factors, including several protected characteristics. However, it is not broken down into deaths in mental health settings. 

Assessment up to date as of December 2024.

The use of corporal punishment has been prohibited in most settings, including schools and other institutions, under the following legislation: 

• School Standards and Framework Act 1998
• Education Act 1986
• Children’s Homes Regulation Act 2001
• Children’s Homes Regulations 1991 
• Day Care and Child Minding (national Standards) (England) Regulations 2003

Since the recommendation was made in May 2024, the UK government has not enacted legislation to remove the common law defence of ‘reasonable punishment,’. This  which permits parents, or those acting ‘in loco parentis’, in England to use physical punishment lawfully in some circumstances. Guidelines on what level of punishment can be considered ‘reasonable’ are set out in the Children Act 2004.  

Since the recommendation was made, there is no evidence that the UK government has strengthened its efforts to encourage non-violent forms of discipline as alternatives to corporal punishment.  

Assessment up to date as of December 2024.