Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Police are looking into allegations of child abuse in Nottingham children's homes going back to the 1950s. Children's homes should be a place of safety, and harm of any kind is a dreadful and damaging abuse of duty and trust which is taken extremely seriously
The Commissioner, with the Police, City and County Councils, is committed to ensuring victims and survivors get the help they need, as well as bringing perpetrators to justice and ensuring professional standards are upheld.
A leaflet has been co-produced with surviors called “Have you been impacted by Sexual Abuse in Childhood” to provide further information about available support click HERE to download.
The Notts Consent Coalition has produced a survivor’s guide to support and reporting which is available to view and download here: Your Journey – A survivor’s guide to support and reporting
Responding to Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse
| IICSA |
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The independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up in 2015 to consider the growing evidence of institutional failures to protect children from child sexual abuse, and to make recommendations to ensure the best possible protection for children in future.
More information can be found on their website: https://www.iicsa.org.uk
Recommendations and details of what has been done so far can also be found on their website: https://www.iicsa.org.uk/recommendations
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| Nottinghamshire Councils |
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In 2010 five individuals lodged civil claims in respect of allegations of abuse at Beechwood, and since then a significant number of civil claims have been received by Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council in relation to emotional, physical and sexual harm experienced by those who had been entrusted into their care.
In 2011 Nottinghamshire Police began an investigation known as Operation Daybreak in response to a high number of allegations of physical and sexual abuse in the former Beechwood children’s home. This was followed by further investigations into other care facilities under the name of Operation Xeres, in 2014. In 2015, Operations Daybreak and Xeres were merged to form Operation Equinox, in order to ensure a more consistent approach to investigating allegations.
As a result of the scale of the criminal and civil claims in relation to Nottingham/shire councils, the Inquiry selected this as one of their strands of investigation. A public hearing was held in October, which took place across 3 weeks, and was split between Nottingham and London.
As of September 2019, the summary of activity reported by Operation Equinox stated they had received 1005 allegations from 420 survivors against 688 suspects, of which 303 have been identified, 98 are dead, 12 have been convicted and 24 are subject to ongoing investigation.
The report relating to the Nottinghamshire hearing was published on 31st July 2019 - https://www.iicsa.org.uk/publications/investigation/nottinghamshire-councils
Further recommendations are due to be made on completion of the inquiry into Lambeth Council which has been scheduled to be heard in July 2020.
Some initial recommendations have been made by the Inquiry in the Interim report published in April 2018 - https://www.iicsa.org.uk/reports/interim
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| Published responses to IICSA's Nottinghamshire Councils report |
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| The Truth Project |
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The Truth Project has been set up by the Inquiry for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences in a supportive and confidential setting.
By sharing their experiences, victims and survivors make an important contribution to the work of the Inquiry and their experiences will feed into and influence the findings and recommendations. More information can be found on the website: https://www.truthproject.org.uk/i-will-be-heard
A report based on research completed by the Truth Project about abuse within care homes, was published in November 2019 - https://www.iicsa.org.uk/document/tp-thematic-report-csa-context-childrens-homes-residential-care-nov-2019
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| APPG Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse |
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The All Party Political Group (APPG) of Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse was formed in November 2018 for the purpose of highlighting the needs of victims and survivors across the country and to give a voice to their concerns in Parliament. Throughout 2019, the APPG has explored survivors’ experience of accessing support services and the criminal justice system through its first inquiry, and has produced three reports detailing their findings: https://www.appgsurvivorscsa.co.uk/
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| The Police and Crime Commissioner |
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In July 2019 the PCC and NHSE/NHSI co-commissioned an independent and comprehensive sexual violence needs assessment to inform future services. This has been completed by Lime Culture and brings together available data on prevalence, reported crime and demand for services as well as feedback from survivors, sexual violence professionals and clinicians from specialist third sector and NHS services.
The report is available to read HERE
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| Available Support: |
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