Survivors Voices Must Be Central to Grooming Gangs Public Inquiry

On 9 December 2025, the UK government announced the launch of a new statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, to be chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield along with panel members Zoë Billingham and Eleanor Kelly.

For many survivors and families who have waited decades for justice and truth, this announcement is long overdue. As a solicitor who has represented survivors in past public inquiries, I welcome the commitment, but I also urge that this inquiry does more than collect data: it must centre the testimonies of those harmed, treat them with dignity, and deliver real accountability.

Changing Course on a Public Inquiry

Previously, attempts to investigate historic child sexual exploitation failed to secure a full Home Office-led public inquiry. In early 2025, when Oldham Council formally requested government support, the request was refused and the proposed inquiry never gained approval.

Instead, survivors were offered alternatives such as a “truth project”, a lighter-touch process for gathering testimony modelled on previous initiatives. A truth project was included as part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse as an opportunity for those affected to talk about their experiences. However without the powers to compel testimony and evidence, it lacked the teeth required for this task.

Therefore, in the face of mounting pressure, the government changed course. The new national inquiry, the Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, will replace the now-abandoned approach of isolated, local investigations. The inquiry will have full statutory powers to compel documents and testimony, examine systemic failings across police, councils and social services, and consider the role of ethnicity, religion and culture in both the crimes and institutional responses.

This shift matters. By moving from local reviews, some of which were blocked or diluted, to a comprehensive, legally empowered national inquiry, I hope there is the potential for consistent, meaningful investigation, and for survivors to find the justice they deserve. At the same time, there are already justifiable concerns that local voices will be further diluted unless the inquiry is structured properly, and highlights the voices of survivors and victims.

Building the Inquiry Around Survivors and Victims

As someone who represents families harmed by institutional failure, I know all too well the damage done when authorities ignore, minimise or stigmatise survivors. I have sat with clients who were blamed, shamed and disbelieved not just by perpetrators, but by the very institutions meant to protect them.

The new inquiry’s powers are necessary, but far from sufficient. For this inquiry to restore trust, it must:

• Prioritise survivors’ voices. Testimony from victims must form the core of the inquiry, rather than institutional data or bureaucratic records. Survivors must be heard, believed, and supported without being treated as tokens or afterthoughts.
• Ensure independence and transparency. The inquiry must not become a process of half-measures. It needs independence, and a clear commitment to publishing findings and operating with transparency.
• Deliver accountability. Too many previous investigations into child sexual exploitation have ended with reports, suggestions, and reforms that were never fully implemented. This is not enough. This must be an inquiry that leads to real accountability for the institutions and individuals who failed victims.
• Provide long-term support for survivors. Bearing witness and recounting trauma is painful. The inquiry must ensure adequate psychological and practical support for those who come forward and protect them from re-traumatisation, including by funding the victims’ own psychological support team.

If these commitments are made, the new Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs could deliver accountability and practical improvements that could protect children from harm, both now and in the future.

What This Means for Communities, Justice and Memory

This inquiry offers a historic opportunity to acknowledge decades of abuse, cover-ups and neglect. Beyond that, it could also bring about universal and systemic change for communities across England and Wales. For survivors and their families, this could be a path to truth, recognition and reparation.

However, this will only be possible if we ensure that the inquiry does not replicate old mistakes. It must mark a real shift away from tokenism, half-measures, and inertia and towards justice, transparency and genuine reform.

For far too long, survivors have waited. For far too long, their voices have been dismissed, their pain ignored. This national inquiry is a chance to right that wrong.