The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs

The government has announced that it is establishing a statutory public inquiry into grooming gangs. The inquiry begins work on 13 April 2026.

Why have there been calls for an inquiry?

By the early 2010s, multiple child sexual abuse scandals had prompted public concern about the state response to organised and systematic child sexual abuse. These included revelations about media personalities such as Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris as well as about organised child sexual abuse in towns such as Rotherham, Oldham and Rochdale.

In 2014 Theresa May, then Home Secretary, established a non-statutory inquiry panel into the issue. The inquiry panel was replaced by a statutory public inquiry (the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, or IICSA) in 2015, after the Home Secretary told the House of Commons that the panel had lost the trust of victims and survivors. IICSA took seven years to complete, making 20 recommendations in its final report in 2022.

In July 2024, Oldham Council wrote to the Home Secretary requesting a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the local area. In October 2024, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, refused Oldham Council’s request (PDF). The minister wrote that it should be for Oldham Council itself to decide to commission a local inquiry, rather than for the government to intervene.

This decision became the focus of considerable parliamentary and press attention in January 2025, in part driven by comments made by the US tech CEO Elon Musk on social media. Also in January 2025, the then Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, told the House of Commons that none of IICSA’s recommendations had been implemented.

The government asked Baroness Casey of Blackstock to run a “rapid audit” on gang-based exploitation and report to the government on what further work was needed. Baroness Casey reported in June 2025, recommending that the government establish both a national police operation and a national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation, commonly referred to as ‘grooming gangs’. The government accepted all of Baroness Casey’s recommendations and committed to establishing a national inquiry.

What has happened with the inquiry so far?

On 9 December 2025, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood published draft terms of reference and announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield, who served as Children’s Commissioner from 2015 to 2021. She would sit alongside two panellists: Zoë Billingham CBE, a former Inspector at His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and current Chair of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, and Eleanor Kelly CBE, the former Chief Executive of Southwark Council.

The chair and panel consulted with victims and other stakeholders on the draft terms of reference. Final terms of reference were agreed with the Home Secretary and published on 31 March 2026, with the formal start date of the inquiry set as 13 April 2026.

What will the inquiry cover?

According to the terms of reference, the inquiry will examine failures in tackling grooming gangs across England and Wales. A separate inquiry into group-based child sexual abuse in Scotland will be established by the Scottish Government.

The inquiry will co-ordinate investigations in certain local areas, though it will not investigate every area where grooming gangs have operated.

The inquiry will consider the factors that allowed exploitation to happen and go unaddressed, including the ethnicity, religion and culture of both perpetrators and victims. This follows a finding in Baroness Casey’s national audit that the ethnicity of perpetrators had historically been “shied away from” by authorities.

The inquiry is due to last for no more than three years, within a budget of £65 million.