Will a public inquiry into grooming gangs lead to better protection of vulnerable children?

The government recently announced a national inquiry into grooming gangs. This marks a change from its previous position and comes in the wake of a troubling history of inaction in response to calls for better protection of vulnerable children. 

Background 

In June 2025, seven men were found guilty of exploiting teenage girls in Rochdale. They were groomed from a young age and repeatedly abused. 

The children were failed lamentably. Greater Manchester Police has apologised for how the survivors were dealt with. Meanwhile, the director of children’s services at Rochdale Borough Council recognised that “more could and should have been done”.

In February 2025, the Government commissioned Baroness Lousie Casey to conduct a national audit on child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs. The audit is a devasting read. 

Published on 16 June 2025, it outlines some of the appalling abuse perpetrated by grooming gangs, and exposes collective denial and institutional failings on a disturbing scale. 

Victims are often vulnerable children in the care system, some as young as 10. Survivors of child sexual exploitation have at times been blamed, or even criminalised, rather than treated as victims. Some are still battling to overturn convictions.

Damning child sexual exploitation audit

The audit presents a damning analysis and a bleak picture of a fragmented system. 

Responses from public bodies have been characterised by woeful inadequacy at best and almost wilful blindness at worst. Poor information-sharing between stakeholders has also led to a knowledge deficit which hampers the effectiveness of their response. Additionally, there's often a paucity of data collected, especially concerning ethnicity.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that much of the audit’s findings aren't new. Instead, they are the latest in a series of rallying cries for action to protect children from sexual exploitation, most notably through the seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, led by Professor Jay. The audit notes:

"What emerges instead over at least the last decade is a repeating cycle: seminal moments of scandal and public outrage which lead to bursts of government focus and activity but no sustained improvement, leaving victims and the public with insufficient justice, action, accountability or answers.”

It's clear that this cycle must end. 

The audit’s recommendations

The audit concludes by making 12 recommendations. These include:

• Changing the law so that men who groom and have sex with 13–15-year-olds receive mandatory charges of rape;
• Reviewing the criminal convictions of survivors and quashing convictions where they were found to have been criminalised instead of protected;
• A national police operation and national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.

In response, the Home Secretary acknowledged that children had been “disgracefully let down again and again by the authorities who were meant to protect them”. She added that action was under way to implement previous recommendations which “for too long have sat on the shelf”. 

The Government appears to have accepted the audit’s recommendations, including to set up a public inquiry.

What is a public inquiry?

Public inquiries investigate important issues of concern. They're usually initiated by government and led independently by an appointed chair. Inquiries can be statutory or non-statutory. The inquiry into grooming gangs will likely be a full statutory inquiry, which will have additional powers to compel witnesses under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005. 

Public inquiries can be an important fact-finding exercise, to expose what has happened and seek to prevent similar recurrence in future. Learning lessons should be a core objective.

Grooming gangs inquiry next steps and core participant status

The scope of the grooming gangs inquiry will be set by its terms of reference, which haven't yet been published. However, there may be prior consultation in due course. 

Individuals or organisations can apply to become ‘core participants’, meaning that they can participate more closely and receive disclosure from the inquiry. 

Legal support for public inquiry participants

Core participants can instruct legal representatives to help ensure that they play a full role, make submissions to the inquiry and potentially pose questions to key witnesses. This can in turn help the inquiry get to the truth. Irwin Mitchell has represented core participants in various previous inquiries and supported clients to provide evidence during the inquiry process.

Conclusion

The nature and seriousness of group-based child sexual exploitation warrants a full investigation. A statutory inquiry can seek to ventilate the issues and construct a clear narrative which many survivors have been denied. 

Baroness Casey’s audit indicated that authorities have displayed defensive behaviour and a reluctance to review past events. An inquiry won't afford them this option. It's hoped that an inquiry will promote accountability, transparency and bring continued areas of poor practice into sharp focus. 

Survivors don't just deserve apologies. They deserve answers, alongside rigorous action. It's vital that victims’ interests and voices are considered throughout the inquiry process. 

Survivors and their families should have the option of participating in the inquiry as core participants, and the inquiry will need to consider carefully what evidence is required from relevant institutions and experts. 

The Children’s Commissioner emphasised that “this inquiry must be a wake-up call for how we respond to vulnerable children, especially violence against girls.” However, given a host of previous recommendations haven't been properly implemented, there remains concern as to what will be different this time. 

Action needs to be decisive

What is clear is that action at both central and local government level needs to be far more decisive. Of particular interest is the final recommendation in the audit that the government should “commit to fully resourcing the implementation of these recommendations over multiple years and to tracking their implementation”. It's unclear how progress will be monitored, but this will no doubt be essential.

Although public inquiries can lead to important changes in law and policy, an inquiry on its own is unlikely to signal overnight change. The issues identified to date are systemic, culturally entrenched and likely the product of chronic underfunding. 

Although an important and welcome step, an inquiry cannot be a substitute for adequate investment in children’s welfare and services, which must happen in parallel.

The question of whether the recommendations in Baroness Casey’s audit and / or the outcome of any public inquiry will bring about lasting, tangible progress will largely hinge on whether there's a genuine appetite for reform, as well as the resources to urgently implement and monitor this. 

Protecting children, particularly some of the most vulnerable children in our care system, should be a core policy aim. Half measures will not suffice. There needs to be a dogged and unwavering commitment to preventing grooming and child sexual exploitation. Anything less is a tremendous disservice to both past and indeed potential future victims.

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in how we secure answers for people at public inquiries at our dedicated protecting your rights section. More information about how we help survivors of abuse access compensation and specialist support can be found at our abuse claims section.