In the introduction to the Government’s update on IICSA recommendations, which was published by the Home Office last week under the title Tackling Child Sexual Abuse – Progress Update, it notes that the Office for National Statistics’ Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates that 7.5% of all adults in England and Wales have been sexually abused before the age of 16, which is approximately 3.1 million adult victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. 

This figure may well account for the decision by the Government not to implement IICSA’s recommendation for a separate national redress scheme for all victims and survivors of child sexual abuse that is connected to state/non state institutions for now.

Under the heading Supporting Victims and Survivors, which looks at the following recommendations: -

Recommendation 16: A national guarantee of specialist therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse

Recommendation 17: A code of practice for retention of records pertaining to child sexual abuse

Recommendation 18: Changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 

Recommendation 19: A national redress scheme for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in England and Wales

The Government has set out is position as follows:-

• The Government accepts that the current supports for children who have been sexually abused neither meets demands or helps those who access such support to cope or recover from the trauma of that abuse. The Government says it is committed to providing not just access to NHS mental health services but to ensuring that those who provide that support are properly trained to provide that support and guidance. To do so, it has committed funding to CSA Centre in 2025/2026 “… to develop and deliver evidence-based training and resources for those working with victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, including providers of therapeutic services and those providing support to victims from minority ethnic backgrounds.” There is also a commitment to provide additional funding through Families First for Children pathfinder programme to provide similar resources and training across social care, police and health partners. The exact levels of this commitment has not been provided in this document, but we are told, will be provided following the upcoming Spending Review, which is due to take place in June 2025.
• The Government also accepts that additional supports must be put in place to provide and enable adult survivors of child sexual abuse to access therapeutic services. The CSA Centre will also be provided with additional funding to develop “…a framework to support local leaders and commissioners to develop more holistic and joined-up provision for adult survivors across England and Wales.”  The Government has committed to doubling the funding it provides to national services that support adult survivors of child sexual abuse in 2025/2026.
• The Government says that the underlying principle upon which the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is based, is that victims of all crimes should be able to access the scheme based on the injuries that they have sustained not the crime that has been committed against them, and this makes it difficult to amend the scheme as per IICSA’s recommendation (which recommended that the Government increase the time limit for child sex abuse compensation applications, so that applicants would instead have seven years to apply from either the date of the offence or their 18th birthday). The Government say that the Scheme allows a discretion to extend time limited for applying in exceptional circumstances and this discretion is being used effectively in the context of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. The Government goes on to say that CICA have worked to improve its service and have provided specific training to staff on how to deal with applicants who have been impacted by psychological and emotional trauma in sexual abuse cases. CICA have also worked to raise public awareness of the Scheme among victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and the Government will consider suggestions from interested parties on how to increase this public awareness into the future.
• The Government accepts how important it is for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to be able to seek redress from institutions, where they were sexually abused as children but go on to say that redress can take many forms, and “…includes financial compensation, support to cope with the long-term impacts of sexual abuse, meaningful apologies and assurances from institutions, and government, that the lessons have been learned and that children will be better protected in future.” While the Government is supportive of redress schemes that have been put in place by other institutions, as recognition that those institutions failed children in their care, it seems the Government are not willing to recognise its own failings towards children in care, by way of establishing a national redress scheme as recommended by IICSA at present. For now, the Government says that the challenges of establishing a national redress scheme are too huge, particularly in the current fiscal environment and investment for now will be prioritised in providing support and care. Victims and survivors are encouraged to seek redress from individual institutions who are/or will be operating their own institutional schemes, and also to access justice and compensation through the civil courts, which will be less challenging, when the three-year limitation period for brining personal injury claims is abolished in early course.
• To respond to IICSA’s recommendations on records retention, following regulations to be introduced by the Government in Autumn 2025, the ICO will be instructed to draft a code of practice on the retention of personal data relating to child sexual abuse. While the Code will not be able to compel organisations to retain such records for 75 years, this will be the prescribed best practice and the Government may legislate on this issue in due course, if the desired best practice guidance is not being observed.

As always, the devil is in the detail, the impact of the Government’s proposals set out above will largely depend on the actual funding that will be committed to implement them, and in an ever more challenging financial environment, it is hard to be fully optimistic that the funding will meet expectations and/or demand. The decision not to commit to a national redress scheme is also bound to be a disappointment for victims and survivors, especially in circumstances, where victims and survivors of physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect in residential care settings in Scotland and Northern Ireland have had access to such national redress schemes for several years.