Landmark report calls for compensation for victims of child abuse

A landmark report into child sexual abuse in England and Wales called for financial compensation for victims in cases dating back to the 1950s.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has concluded after a seven-year inquiry which heard from more than 7,000 victims, involved 325 days of public hearings and cost £186.6m.

The damning report says that Mark Easton BBChome editor, described as “a horrifying realization of the evil that has corrupted every nook and cranny of our society.”

The inquiry, launched by then home secretary Theresa May in 2015, made 20 recommendations to the government, including providing compensation to victims of abuse. The economic package will take the form of a “national compensation scheme” to support those “failed by the state and non-state institutions in the past”.

It is hoped the money will help the many survivors who “continue to struggle with long-term mental health and addiction issues”, it said Telegraph. The inquiry recommends the appointment of a new cabinet-level minister to oversee the yet-to-be-assessed compensation scheme.

Further recommendations include mandatory reporting of abuse allegations persons holding positions of trust, and the establishment of special bodies for the protection of childhood.

Such a policy will operate in the public and private sectors, with Guardian saying the report found “appalling failings in the most prominent institutions, from the government to the police to religious organizations”. The latter came under special scrutiny claims that the church is constantly seeking to protect itself rather than favoring victims.

Although the report was largely favourable, so-called “loopholes” in it were criticized by victims, campaigners and lawyers, writes The Telegraph. The report’s failure to “establish specific criminal penalties for those who do not report abuse, as well as those who merely suspect serious abuse,” creates a “real danger that institutions may still turn a blind eye,” they argue.

And IICSA has also faced criticism for its decision to examine old-fashioned attitudes to abuse from the 1950s, said BBCTom Symonds. Critics argued that these views were “no longer an issue” and should not have been the focus of the inquiry.