Time limit for child sex abuse claims to be removed

A three-year time limit for child sexual abuse victims to sue for damages will be removed in England and Wales under “long overdue” government reforms, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said.

The MoJ said laws would also be refined to encourage employers to apologise for the actions of current or former employees, so victims would be more likely to receive apologies from institutions like schools, care facilities or hospitals.

The government said it was delivering on recommendations laid out in the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), led by Prof Alexis Jay.

The reforms are expected to be part of bills to be brought before Parliament in the next year.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the changes recommended by Prof Jay were “long overdue”.

“These measures help survivors pursue their path to justice,” she added.

Prof Jay had called for an end to the deadline for victims to bring compensation claims.

At present, civil child sexual abuse claims must be brought within three years of turning 18, unless the victim can prove a fair trial can proceed despite the time lapse.

However, the IICSA reported that a “significant number” of claims were being rejected because it could take “decades for survivors to feel able to discuss their sexual abuse”.

Kim Harrison, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said the three-year deadline was “wholly inappropriate”.

“It will now be the burden of defendants to prove that the passage of time has created an unfair trial, rather than on the victim or survivor to prove a fair trial is possible,” she said.

Last month, the government confirmed it would introduce a mandatory reporting duty for those working with children to report sexual abuse as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.

Criminal sanctions will be introduced for both the concealment of, and failure to report, child sexual abuse.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also promised to make grooming an aggravated factor in the sentencing of abuse cases and “overhaul” how information and evidence on child sexual abuse is gathered.

The long wait for the IICSA recommendations to be implemented was thrown into the spotlight in January after tech billionaire Elon Musk attacked the government online in relation to child grooming.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused him and others of “spreading lies and misinformation”, but weeks later the Home Office announced a nationwide review of grooming gang evidence and five government-backed local inquiries.

At the time Cooper said the government would lay out a timetable by Easter for implementing the recommendations in the final report.

The row between Mr Musk and Sir Keir centred on high-profile cases where groups of men – mainly of Pakistani descent – were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young white girls in towns such as Rotherham and Rochdale.

Before leading the national inquiry Prof Jay published a report into abuse in Rotherham in 2014, which estimated 1,400 girls had been abused in the Yorkshire town.