Since its opening on 1 April 2021, an NSPCC run abuse helpline has received over 500 reports of abuse from students and parents and these numbers continue to increase. The service was set up by the Department of Education as a response to anonymous testimonies from school and university students alleging abuse on the website “Everyone’s Invited”.
Continue readingTag Archives: safeguarding
Peer on peer abuse – what is it?
In our series considering the recent disturbing allegations on the Everyone’s Invited website, today’s focus is on the issue of peer on peer abuse. This has been brought into sharp focus and has caused schools and colleges to examine what their obligations are, legal and otherwise arising from peer on peer abuse and to reflect on whether they are doing enough to detect and prevent peer on peer abuse as part of their overarching responsibility for safeguarding children in their care.
Continue readingIICSA – Update on finances as of 31 December 2020
IICSA’s expenditure for the financial year as of 31 December 2020 is £22,945,197 bringing its total expenditure to just over £159 million since it began in 2015.
Continue readingSafeguarding in Schools and IICSA
This is a huge investigation with many issues to consider. IICSA held a preliminary hearing recently which highlighted how wide a topic this is and the challenges IICSA faces in ensuring a proportionate investigation which still ensures all issues have been addressed.
Football latest
The Offside Trust, the organisation set up in the wake of the football abuse scandal, which aims to work alongside football clubs to enhance safeguarding, has this week claimed that at least 80 sports coaches have been convicted of child sexual abuse in the past two years.
Six year old girl awarded damages from local authority after sexual abuse by boys at school
Following agreement at a roundtable meeting, the High Court yesterday approved a five figure settlement in a case involving a local authority defendant where a six year old girl disclosed she had been repeatedly sexually abused by two boys at school in 2015. The local authority agreed the settlement without admission of liability.
Managing expectations
Recent developments across the jurisdictions have highlighted the difficulties faced by all those involved in dealing with abuse allegations. The number and expectations of the different people involved presents significant problems in handling these matters in a professional yet sensitive way.
