Act on IICSA is a campaign group working to raise awareness of the recommendations outlined by the Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse (IICSA) to help better protect children from sexual abuse.
The group is comprised of the former chair of the IICSA, Professor Alexis Jay CBE, former secretary to IICSA John O’Brien CBE, expert witness and solicitor David Greenwood, former members of the IICSA Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel (VSCP) and CEO’s of member agencies of The Survivors Trust.
Background
The IICSA’s final report, published in October 2022 after a seven-year inquiry, found that institutions often prioritised protecting their reputations over safeguarding children. Calling the scale of abuse “horrific,” the report urged child protection to become a public priority and proposed 20 essential recommendations for a comprehensive reform of the UK’s child protection system — the most significant since the Children’s Act of 1989. Compiled from 2.5 million pages of evidence and testimony from over 7,300 survivors, the report concluded that “child protection must be given a much greater priority in public life.
Where are we now?
In January 2024, we hosted a parliamentary event with Jess Philips (now minister Philips) and then Home Secretary James Cleverly MP. The Home Secretary made a statement in the house of commons, stating that the government was taking “concerted action” on “several of the Inquiry’s recommendations”.
In September 2024, we launched our manifesto, which can be downloaded here. It outlines the three areas for cultural change needed across society, Prevention Pro
October 2024 marked two years since IICSA final report was published. Since this time, not one recommendation has been implemented on a national level. A new government in July 2024 has expressed a commitment to better prevention of child sexual abuse as well as halving violence against women and girls (VAWG) in ten years.
In November 2024 ACT on IICSA held a webinar to present the concept of a CPA and to answer questions from stakeholders. You can watch the webinar here.
Responsibility for child safeguarding is shared between several government departments, most significantly Department for Education, Department for Health, and the Ministry of Justice.
Around 500,000 children (an estimate described as ‘conservative’) are sexually abused in the UK in one year. To start to address the horrifying scale of these numbers, and to encourage the adoption of the recommendations from the report, the Act On IICSA group is currently focussing on just one of the recommendations: the establishment of a Child Protection Agency. The evidence of IICSA found that having a single place available to support, inform and monitor frontline professionals responsible for the protection of children will be much more effective than the current system which allows responses to be lost in overlapping priorities.
Once a CPA is established, as a non-departmental government body, it will then work alongside relevant stakeholders to implement the other 19 recommendations.
Call to Action!
Help us by writing to your MP, urging them to support ACT on IICSA, specifically the establishment of a Child Protection Authority.
You can find out who your MP is and their contact details via TheyWorkForYou
How to Support the Campaign:
You’re welcome to download and customise our suggested draft email, here. However we recommend that you write your own letter. Here are some suggestions how:
- Introduce yourself as a constituent: Explain why this issue matters to you, whether professionally or personally.
- Acknowledge victims and survivors: Recognise the 7,000 individuals who testified for IICSA and the estimated 13 million adult survivors in the UK today.
- Express support for the campaign: Emphasise the CPA’s necessity for child protection reform.
- Request MP action: Ask your MP to write to the Minister for Safeguarding, Jess Phillips, to show their support and inquire about the government’s actions on IICSA’s 20 recommendations.
Please ask your MP to copy actoniicsa@thesurvivorstrust.org, so we can track support.
Follow #ActOnIICSA for updates and join our mailing list by emailing actoniicsa@thesurvivorstrust.org.
