Child sexual abuse claims to have time limits removed

Shabana Mahmood, Justice Secretary, said the changes were “long overdue”.

“These measures help survivors pursue their path to justice.”

The IICSA revealed that significant numbers of claims were currently being turned down due to the fact that many survivors take decades to come to terms with their abuse, to a point where they are able to talk about it.

President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, Kim Harrison, said the deadline was “wholly inappropriate”.

“It will now be the burden of defendants to prove that the passage of time has created an unfair trial, rather than on the victim or survivor to prove a fair trial is possible.”

In January, the government announced that it would be introducing a mandatory reporting duty under the Crime and Policing Bill, for those working with children to report sexual abuse.

This would also include the introduction of criminal sanctions for both the concealment of, and failure, to report child sexual abuse.

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, also pledged to make grooming an aggravated factor in the sentencing of abuse cases, alongside an overhaul on how information and evidence is gathered in relation to child sexual abuse.

The delay between the IICSA recommendations being made and their pending implementation was brought to very public attention in January, after Elon Musk confronted the government online about the current state of child grooming in the UK.

The Prime Minister’s response to this was that Musk was “spreading lies and misinformation”, although weeks later the Home Office announced five new government-backed local inquiries, as well as a national review of evidence relating to grooming gangs.

Prior to leading the IICSA enquiry, Prof. Jay published a report into the 2014 Rotherham abuse, where it was estimated that 1,400 girls had been subjected to abuse.