Help ensure proper Law on Mandatory Reporting this Spring

We, as survivors of violent and sexual abuse while children at school, ask that the government ensure workable and effective law on Mandatory Reporting of child sexual abuse when it is introduced as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill reported by Yvette Cooper 06/01/25.

It is brilliant news that the current government will introduce Mandatory Reporting. There is no reason for the UK to remain in the dark ages on this any longer. Forms of mandatory reporting, including of suspicions and indicators of abuse, are in place in 80% of comparable countries.

We are, however, concerned that any enacted law may prove ineffective because previous measures proposed by the former Tory government were a sham – worse than useless: legislation that would have put back the cause of getting good law in place to protect children.

In addition, while the seven-year Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), recommended that failure to report abuse of a child must be a criminal offence, the IICSA recommendation was equivocal (see below).

As always, the devil is in the details and it is important that the law be drafted right. Having this kind of willingness and understanding from government on child protection is unprecedented and we need to all work together to ensure that the law is well drafted from the start.

For us survivors of abuse, the litmus test of any proposed form of mandatory reporting is whether the new law would have helped to protect us from criminal predators as children. 

So what makes for great law on Mandatory Reporting?
The good news is that we already know the answer to this because most countries already have Mandatory Reporting on child sexual abuse* and in the UK, we also have laws on Mandatory Reporting on things like financial crimes. There are also a host of voluntary organisations like Mandate Now which have been lobbying tirelessly for this since, well, forever.

Using these sources, especially the work of Mandate Now but also recent law from countries like Spain and Australia, we can get a good idea of what needs to be considered when drafting the law.

In summary three main points:

1. Mandatory Reporting of suspected or known child sexual abuse where the suspicion of knowledge is derived from disclosure, witnessing or indicators of abuse, with failure to report attracting fines and/or criminal sanctions.
2. Improved integrity of evidence collection and streamlining of legal processes to ensure a better ratio of cases prosecuted.
3. Improved protection of victims in post-reporting investigative and judicial procedures to better protect children from secondary traumatisation (being traumatised again when giving testimony) and, therefore, again raise the ratio of cases that are actually prosecuted and thus increase the percentage of perpetrators brought to justice.

We believe that Mandatory Reporting alone won't work. This is because Mandatory Reporting will lead to an increase in reports but conviction rates won't improve unless:

• The judicial system improves the integrity of evidence collection from child victims and concomitantly,
• Improves the protection of children during judicial processes, particularly around secondary traumatisation.

Here is the detail on what we would like to see the UK government enact into law.

Effective Mandatory Reporting Law

The Main Points

1. We think Mandatory reporting means that professionals who work with children in ‘Regulated Activities’ (teaching, healthcare, faith, sport etc.) who know, or have reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting child sexual abuse, have to report this to the designated authority.
2. The grounds for reporting can be one of three things:
   1. A direct report by a child.
   2. Witnessing abuse.
   3. Observing established indicators of child sexual abuse.
3. The designated authority to report to is outside the institution where the abuse/suspected abuse is taking place to avoid any cover up. This is usually a Local Authority Designated Officer (‘LADO’) or the police.
4. Failure to inform suspected or known abuse based on any of the grounds outlined in 2 above, becomes a criminal offence.

The Impact

1. Will Mandatory Reporting increase reporting of abuse?
   Yes. Anyone working in a Regulated Activity will have to report and if they don't they will be prosecuted. Currently they are only encouraged under something flimsy called "Statutory Guidance" and so often don't. Reasons are manifold but include concerns over being wrong about a colleague, fear of losing a job, being bullied or threatened into silence, laziness, fear of repercussions etc, or in the case of leadership of institutions, fear of loss of reputation.
   So Mandatory reporting will dramatically increase reporting of child sexual abuse and help to close down opportunities for predators in institutional settings to exploit children.
2. Would reported cases be actioned and whistleblowers protected?
   Yes. Since the reporting would be to a designated trained authority outside the institution where the person is reporting from, the case would be handled independently of vested interests and with trained experience, ensuring a better analysis of the merits of the reported case.
   This will ensure improved outcomes for all concerned, including victim support, police time and CPS conviction rates.
3. What about abuse outside these Regulated Activities?
   It is a sad fact that most children are abused by people known to them, including family members and friends. Since Regulated Activities always involve close encounter with both children and their families, staff are often the best able to identity children being abused in their own families or by family friends – the most common forms of abuse. Often, however, these professionals don't report the suspicion. Mandatory Reporting will require them to and therefore also help to stop abuse in the home as well.
4. Won't this overwhelm the justice system?
   There will be a spike in reports and so will mean an increase in costs of administering these reports. The same was true when reporting of financial crimes became mandatory. The spike will be because the crimes are happening. So yes there is a cost to this but what is the greater cost to our society if we don't improve laws to stop abuse of our children?
   In addition, there is a huge amount of data showing the cost to society and the economy of child sexual abuse in the form of mental health, drug and alcohol addiction, which can link to crime, lost productive members of society and immense social damage. In addition there are ways to lower costs (see below).
5. Won't this lead to flood of false reporting?
   Many worry that Mandatory Reporting will lead to a flood of false accusations (so-called vexatious reporting) and overwhelm the justice system. This fear-based assumption has no basis in fact. The data from other countries with Mandatory Reporting show this does not happen as long as the law and systems are well-designed. In Australia for example, reports from teachers doubled after the law was introduced and so did subsequent confirmations of abuse i.e. the ratio of substantiated reports remained the same as before Mandatory Reporting. What did happen was that the number of reported cases of genuine abuse doubled. See Mandate Now's analysis here for data. Nevertheless, vexatious reporting does happen, including in other situations like healthcare as the NHS knows, and separate law on this can and should be introduced.
   But the threat of vexatious reporting doesn't meant we should not make it a legal requirement to report genuine suspicions and knowledge of abuse of a child.
   In addition, as in other countries like Spain, which introduced a wide-ranging child protection law in 2021, new laws can require better training to prevent and detect all forms of violence, including sexual abuse against children, which will not only improve detection but also improve the accuracy of detection and thus reporting (see below).
   The data is clear: Mandatory Reporting works.
6. Should the government simply follow the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)'s Mandatory Reporting recommendations?
   Not entirely. Recommendation 13 of the IICSA report identifies three types of evidence that could be subject to a mandatory reporting law: A) disclosure by child/perpetrator B) witness of the crime C) observing recognised indicators of child sexual abuse. A and B rarely happen so we rely on C mostly. But the IICSA recommended that C not attract criminal sanctions. Since almost all abuse discovery is through C, this would mean that their proposed legislation would not result in real Mandatory Reporting at all. Failing to report abuse discovered across any of A or B or C needs to attract criminal sanctions.
7. Wouldn't this mean that many professionals in Regulated Activities would be convicted of crimes for failing to report?
   No, the law should allow for both fines and sanctions. A criminal sanction would only be applied in the most egregious examples of failing to report and the CPS has a standard two-stage test for processing with a prosecution: that a) there is enough evidence and b) a realistic prospect of conviction. Someone who failed to report due to serious doubts and/or inexperience in recognising indicators of child abuse would not be prosecuted.
8. Won't all this extra reporting overwhelm the justice system?
   Yes, it could if the law is not drafted well. That is why, as part of the new law, we believe it is essential to improve evidence collection efficiency and integrity and process efficiency to avoid undue stress on the justice system. One of the most effective ways to do this is around the testimony of the victim.
   Currently in the UK, victims often have to repeat their story to multiple parties: the incident response team, then the child abuse unit, often more than once, then the CPS, then the designated prosecutor and then at trial. It is no wonder that victims often give up and drop charges - a victims's capacity to provide testimony can also become frayed. Many that handle direct testimony are also not trained to deal with children well, resulting in poor results.
   There are ways to avoid this. Spain introduced a new law in 2021 around child protection called the "Ley de protección a la infancia" or Ley de Rhodes (after James Rhodes the British pianist and survivor) that included not only Mandatory Reporting but also provisions to help improve integrity of testimony during the processing of crimes against children: 
   • One-time reporting in writing by the victim in a room with qualified victim support, defence and prosecution and a judge which makes the process much faster and more efficient. 
   • A team of professionals, including psychologists and social workers, facilitates the process. They relay questions from the parties involved (e.g., defense, prosecution) to the child in a non-threatening manner. This ensures that testimonies are collected in a legally valid manner while maintaining their reliability.
   • The testimony must adhere to the principle of contradiction, meaning both parties (defense and prosecution) have the opportunity to participate through their legal representatives. This again ensures that testimonies are collected in a legally valid manner while maintaining their reliability.
9. Won't all this reporting lead to children being further traumatised by having to go through the justice system?
   This happens now anyway. A lot. And is why we think the upcoming law needs to include provisions to limit potential traumatisation of victims (whatever age they report) during the process of bringing predators to justice. Again, there are good examples in other countries. The above-mentioned Spanish law included not only Mandatory Reporting but also provisions to help protect children during the processing of crimes.
   
   
10. What are these measures and do they work?
    The key measures are:
    As mentioned above, one-time reporting of the crime in writing. The current requirement in the UK is that the victims report to multiple parties (the incident response team, then the child abuse unit, often more than once, then the CPS, then the designated prosecutor and then at trial). It is no wonder that victims often give up and drop charges or are more traumatised by seeking justice than not doing so.
    Similar to the Spanish law, we would like to see a provision that:
    i. Mandates that anyone aged 18 and under make their testimony once in writing and this testimony is used for all parts of the process through to a trial.
    ii. The testimony is recorded in friendly and private environment, similar to the “friendly rooms (salas amigables)” within judicial buildings in Spain.
    iii. As in Spain, a team of professionals, including psychologists and social workers, facilitates the process.
    iv. To avoid direct confrontation, the child does not have visual contact with the accused during this process.
    v. A judge supervises the process to ensure that it complies with procedural guarantees and protects both the rights of the victim and those of the accused.
    vi. The recorded testimony is admissible as evidence during trial proceedings, eliminating the need for the child to appear in court again unless absolutely necessary.
    
    This means that children only have to relive the trauma once and only in a controlled environment with specially trained officers, significantly reducing any risk of secondary traumatisation.
     
11. Will data collection on incidents of child sexual abuse improve?
    Yes, because reporting of child sexual abuse will improve but there is also a need to better centralise and manage this data. Again to cite Spain's recent law, we believe a central register of all victims of child sexual abuse be introduced to help improve data on the extent, type and scope of child sexual abuse. The IICSA also recommended the creation of a central database.

For us, an effective law on Mandatory Reporting also accounts for the resulting impact of the law and includes provisions to ensure that the law can be administered effectively and efficiently.  This is why we seek both Mandatory Reporting and measures to improve the efficiency of the response to reporting – and to protect the child victims throughout subsequent judicial processes.

We call upon the government to ensure that it introduces an effective, workable law covering Mandatory Reporting and improvements to victim support once report of abuse has been done, alongside restoration of the infrastructure of child social services and improved training of teachers and child care professionals: getting child protection right in Britain at last.

Signed

Michael Causton, Neil Douglas, Philip Dundas, Jed Gordon, Giles Moffatt, Niall Murphy, Simon Partridge, Alex Renton, George Scott, Wyndham Wallace.

Representing dozens of survivors of psychological, physical and sexual abuse at Ashdown House School, Boarzell School, Edinburgh Academy, Eton College, Horris Hill School and Fettes College. Some supporters have asked that their names remain anonymous.

• Survivors are available to speak to media – the names above may be published.
• Media – email us here.
• Mandate Now has useful analysis of this debate and mandatory reporting measures in many countries.
• *A recent survey of 62 nations involved 33 developed nations, and 29 developing nations. The survey found, overall, that:
  
  81.8% of the developed nations had some form of mandatory reporting;
  78.6% of the developing nations had some form of mandatory reporting;
  Combined, 80.3% of the nations participating had some form of mandatory reporting.
  Source: Daro, D, (ed), World Perspectives on Child Abuse, 7th ed, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Chicago, 2006, p 26. (via Mandate Now).