Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Department for Education should ban the placement in semi-independent and independent settings of children aged 16 and 17 who have experienced, or are at heightened risk of experiencing, sexual exploitation. This should be implemented without delay.

In July 2022, HM Government did not accept the recommendation, stating that it did "not believe that a blanket ban would aid local authorities in making these decisions" (Home Office response, Jul 2022; Home Office, Jul 2022). It stated that local authorities are best placed to decide on placements in a child's best interests, noting they have statutory duties to assemble placements that manage individual risks while Ofsted holds them to account (Home Office response, Jul 2022). The record holds no update since the government's response of July 2022 (Home Office response, Jul 2022; Home Office, Jul 2022).

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Department for Education and the Youth Custody Service conduct a full review of the practice of placing children for justice and welfare reasons together in SCHs to establish whether it increases the risk of sexual abuse to children. If so, appropriate action should be taken, including consideration of alternative models. The review should be completed within three months, and an action plan should be published within six months.

The Inquiry recommended reviewing mixed justice and welfare placements in secure children's homes. In May 2021, HM Government stated in a response published by the Department for Education that it had commissioned research and internal data analysis to review placement practice, finding no substantial evidence that mixed placements increase risk (Department for Education, May 2021). It concluded that "we do not believe the evidence supports the need to change placement practice at this time", while planning to keep the issue under review (Department for Education response, May 2021). The response described reviewing practice through internal research, but did not mention an action plan or alternative placement models (Department for Education response, May 2021; Department for Education, May 2021). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of May 2021 (Department for Education response, May 2021).

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Home Office ensures that the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is amended so that, where a fitness to practise hearing has been conducted by the keeper of a relevant register and has resulted in removal of a practitioner from that register for reasons relating to harm or risk of harm to children: the keeper of the register has a duty to refer that information to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), and the DBS, on receiving the referral, has a duty to automatically bar the practitioner from working with children, allowing them the opportunity to make representations to the DBS if they consider the bar to be disproportionate or unfair.

The recommendation called for amending legislation to require automatic barring referrals for deregistered practitioners. In July 2019, HM Government stated that the Home Office had asked the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to continue close engagement with professional bodies, having rejected the recommendation in December 2018 on the grounds that automatic barring would be disproportionate (HM Government response, Dec 2018; HM Government, Jul 2019). In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found that supervisory authorities have powers to refer individuals but no legal duty to share information, noting that not all regulators routinely share details regarding dismissals or resignations involving child protection (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).

The Home Office should introduce legislation permitting the Disclosure and Barring Service to provide enhanced certificates to UK nationals and residents of England and Wales applying for: 1. work or volunteering with UK-based organisations, where the recruitment decision is taken outside the UK; or 2. work or volunteering with organisations based outside the UK, in each case where the work or volunteering would be a regulated activity if in the UK.

The Inquiry recommended legislation permitting Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced certificates for overseas work. In January 2021, HM Government stated that it was "not persuaded" that replacing the International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) with enhanced certificates would make accessing criminal records more effective for overseas employers (Home Office response, Jan 2021; Home Office, Jan 2021). In April 2023, Simon Bailey CBE QPM reported in the Independent Review of the Disclosure and Barring Regime that he found no reason to depart from the government's response, but expected it to review the matter (Simon Bailey CBE, QPM, Apr 2023).

The Home Office should introduce legislation making it mandatory for: (a) all UK nationals and residents of England and Wales to provide a prospective employer overseas with an enhanced DBS certificate before undertaking work with children overseas which if in the UK would be a regulated activity and (b) UK government departments and agencies to require their overseas partners to ensure that UK nationals and residents of England and Wales obtain an enhanced DBS certificate before undertaking work with children overseas which if in the UK would be a regulated activity.

The Inquiry recommended mandatory criminal record checks for UK nationals working with children overseas. In January 2021, HM Government stated that it would not legislate for mandatory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificates because extraterritorial rules would be difficult to monitor and enforce (Home Office response, Jan 2021; Home Office, Jan 2021). In April 2023, Simon Bailey CBE QPM noted in the Independent Review of the Disclosure and Barring Regime that the Inquiry did not repeat this mandatory requirement in its October 2022 final report (Simon Bailey CBE, QPM, Apr 2023).

The Chair and Panel recommend that any police officer (or staff equivalent) who wants to progress to the Chief Officer cadre must first be required to: have operational policing experience in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse; and achieve accreditation in the role of the police service in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. The Home Office should amend entry requirements using its powers under the Police Regulations 2003 to achieve this. The Chair and Panel recommend that the College of Policing develops the training content and accreditation arrangements.

HM Government confirmed in July 2019 that the College of Policing had made progress in delivering non-legislative changes, having rejected the recommendation in December 2018 because mandatory entry requirements were "not practical and would not achieve the desired aim" (HM Government response, Dec 2018; HM Government, Jul 2019). In October 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recorded that the Home Office had not identified any need for legislative change but would keep this under review (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).

The Inquiry recommends (as originally stated in its Sexual Abuse of Children in Custodial Institutions: 2009-2017 Investigation Report, dated February 2019) that the UK government prohibits the use of any technique that deliberately induces pain (previously referred to by the Inquiry as 'pain compliance techniques') by withdrawing all policy permitting its use in custodial institutions in which children are detained, and setting out that this practice is prohibited by way of regulation.

In a January 2026 parliamentary answer, Jake Richards, Minister, answering for the Ministry of Justice, confirmed that the government rejected the recommendation and "will not be introducing legislation", stating that staff must be able to use these techniques as a last resort in emergencies to protect children and staff (Jake Richards, Jan 2026). HM Government had earlier reported in an April 2025 progress update that it would work with the Youth Custody Service on staff training and maintain oversight through an Independent Restraint Review Panel (Home Office, Apr 2025). It had first stated in May 2023 that custodial staff must be trained in safe pain-inducing techniques to prevent children from self-harming or causing physical harm to others (Home Office response, May 2023).