https://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/article/sexual-exploitation-review-finds-child-protection-failings-at-rochdale-councilSexual exploitation review finds child protection failings at Rochdale Council
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Rochdale Council and police failed to protect children at risk of sexual exploitation in the Greater Manchester town more than a decade ago, an independent review has found. It found ?compelling evidence of widespread organised exploitation of children? in Rochdale from 2004 to 2012 and a failure by the council?s children?s services and Greater Manchester Police to protect them. In 111 cases looked at the review found ?there was a significant probability? that 74 were survivors of child sexual exploitation and in 48 of these cases ?there were serious failures? to protect the child by the council and police.
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The review also looked at work carried out by Sara Rowbotham, coordinator of the NHS sexual health service in Rochdale and the Crisis Intervention Team, which investigated child sexual exploitation cases and included former police detective Maggie Oliver among its members. Two serious case overview reports published a decade ago had criticised Rowbotham and the team for not following child protection procedures and not communicating information on cases to social workers and police. But the review found that by 2012 council and police were ?aware of approximately 127 potential victims?. These had been referred by the Crisis Intervention Team to the council but ?had not been acted on over the years?. During the review?s probe this figure, of cases known about but not being acted on by the council, more than doubled to 260. ?This information was clear to all the partners three months before the publication of the serious case review overview reports in December 2013,? found the review.
It concluded there is ?compelling evidence to support the view that the Crisis Intervention Team was sharing explicit information with the authorities on the exploitation of multiple children?.
Malcom Newsam, the review?s lead author, said that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Rochdale Council ?failed to prioritise the protection of children who were being sexually exploited by a significant number of men within the Rochdale area. We have also concluded that Sara Rowbotham was unfairly criticised? after being wrongly accused of not referring cases of children at risk of exploitation. For several years, Sara Rowbotham and her colleagues were lone voices in raising concerns about the sexual exploitation and abuse of these children,? he added.
?Both GMP and Rochdale Council failed to respond appropriately to these concerns, and it has been a gross misrepresentation to suggest that the Crisis Intervention Team in some way was complicit with this failure and to tarnish the reputation of this small group of professionals.?
Rochdale Council?s leader Neil Emmott said the local authority is ?deeply sorry? for its failures relating to the scandal. ?I want to reassure the public that those responsible are gone and long gone,? he said.
?No amount of contrition or apology can ever repair the awful damage that was done to the lives of these survivors. As the current leader of Rochdale Council, I want to repeat the apology we have made previously but also to reassure the public that far more rigorous practices are in place today to protect our children.?
However, last year Rochdale children's services was criticised by Ofsted for not making "sufficient progress" to improve. It said changes in senior management and the Covid-19 pandemic had hindered efforts to improve support for vulnerable children. The independent review had been commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in 2017. ?This report is hard to read,? said Burnham.
?It gives a detailed and distressing account of how many young people were so seriously failed. That said, it fulfils the purpose of why I set up this review in the first place. It is only by facing up fully and unflinchingly to what happened that we can be sure of bringing the whole system culture change needed when it comes to protecting children from abuse. I would like to thank those who have had the courage to come forward and share what happened to them. We know how difficult it must have been and still is. We are sorry that you were so badly failed by the system that should have protected you. I would also like to praise those who blew the whistle on their behalf, particularly Sara Rowbotham and Maggie Oliver, and for the support they have provided to them ever since. That took huge courage and determination, and we thank them for it.?
