Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by councillors proposed in motion

Councillors in Oldham are proposing to create a ‘victims charter’ and adopt a mandatory duty to report concerns of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

A motion, due to be debated at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday, (July 12), wants a compulsory duty to report safeguarding concerns enshrined in the Code of Conduct for elected members, and consultation on the duty for officials employed by the council.

Due to be moved by council leader Arooj Shah, and seconded by Councillor Shaid Mushtaq, it also wants the chief executive to write to the Home Office to request recommendations from a national review over child sexual abuse are accepted.

Locally, they want to develop and adopt a ‘Victims and Survivors Charter’ in Oldham in consultation with victim and survivor groups.

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This would outline the rights and support provided to those affected by child sexual abuse and exploitation, and the requirements placed on officials in administering and investigating reports of abuse.

The motion comes just over a year on from the publication of the assurance review into allegations of child sexual exploitation, and political cover-ups, in the borough in the 2000s.

That report, published in June 2022, was damning of failures by both police and Oldham council to protect vulnerable young people from abuse in the years 2011 to 2014, and in a specific case dating back to 2005. However, the review team found no evidence of a widespread cover-up of sexual exploitation.

The newly tabled motion also references the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, a national inquiry set up to examine how the country’s