Crime and Policing Bill – Mandatory reporting and legislative scrutiny

The Crime and Policing Bill (‘the Bill’) was published on 27 February 2025. It is currently awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords, with the date yet to be scheduled. The Bill has now undergone legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Human Rights who have made some comments on a number of proposals contained within the Bill. Lauranne Nolan, an Associate and the Safeguarding Lead in the Specialist Abuse Team at Keoghs, considers the findings and comments in relation to the Mandatory Reporting Duty (‘the duty’).

A brief recap

Mandatory reporting was one of the centrepiece recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published in October 2022. In April 2023, the then Home Secretary announced that the Government would seek to deliver a mandatory reporting regime that would be informed by a full public consultation.

Since then, there has been a call for evidence on the implementation of such a duty and a consultation setting out the proposals for delivering the duty and to test the remaining undecided policy questions. The main areas that caused split opinion were whether or not it should be a criminal offence for failing in the duty to report, and what the other alternative punishments could be. There was also a difference in opinion about what should be reported.

Finally, after all the above, the government issued its full response to the call for evidence and consultation, confirming that the duty would be introduced through amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill which, at that time, was at the Commons Report stage. However, a general election was then called, which meant that the Criminal Justice Bill did not complete its passage through Parliament in time and did not become an Act.

Following the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024 and the convening of a new government and Parliament opening, it was indicated that the duty would be introduced at Chapter 2 Part 5 of the Crime and Policing Bill.

The duty

Under the duty, a person aged 18 years or over who is involved in a relevant activity relating to children in England (i.e. any activity that involves teaching, training, looking after children or having unsupervised contact with them) will be required to report suspicion of child sexual abuse to the police or social services, if that suspicion arises from certain circumstances.

The Bill proposes that the requirement to report applies:

• where an individual witnesses a child sex offence;
• where they see an image or hear an audio recording of a child sex offence;
• where a person (A) communicates something that would cause a reasonable person to suspect that A may have committed a child sex offence; and
• where a child communicates something that would cause a reasonable person to suspect a child sex offence may have been committed.

The Bill would not require reporting in any other circumstances, for example when an adult brings the information forward.

Sanctions for failing to report

The Bill proposes to make it a criminal offence for a person who knows that someone is under a duty to report to “engage in any conduct with the intention of preventing or deterring that person from complying with that duty”.

The Bill does not include a criminal offence of failing to report. Instead, the Bill would amend the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 so that “failing to comply with the duty to report is a behaviour that should be considered relevant for considering inclusion on the children’s barred list maintained by the Disclosure and Barring Service”. The effect of the Bill’s amendment to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 would mean a duty to make a referral to the DBS would apply to regulated activity providers (i.e. employers or volunteer managers of those working directly with children) and personnel providers (e.g. employment agencies supplying those who work with children) where, as a result of a failure to comply with the mandatory duty to report suspicions of child abuse, they have withdrawn permission for someone to carry out, or moved them out of, regulated activity. Interestingly, failing to comply with this duty to refer to the DBS is a criminal offence.

Comments and recommendations from the Joint Committee on Human Rights

The Committee has reiterated that the introduction of the duty is welcomed and represents an important step forward for the safeguarding and protection of children. However, concerns have been raised that the scope of the duty and the consequences of breaching that duty may not do enough to provide effective protection against child sexual abuse. The Bill on its current drafting risks a failure to comply having little or no consequence. This could undermine the efficacy of the duty.

The Committee has recommended that the government keep under review the efficacy of the duty once it is in place, with a view to expanding its scope if necessary. The government should also reconsider the consequence of failing to comply with the duty to report child sexual abuse, so that it operates as an effective deterrent.

Keoghs comment

The introduction of the duty is clearly going to be an important milestone in safeguarding and child protection, however there is a real risk that despite the significant amount of time it has taken to reach this point, the duty will not provide as much benefit or protection as initially hoped.

Further criticisms of the proposals are that, under the circumstances where the duty would apply, it would actually be rare for the duty to be triggered given that there is clear evidence that most children do not or cannot disclose their abuse. In addition, IICSA was unable to document any examples were a perpetrator disclosed their abuse. Finally, the consequences for a person failing to report depends on referrals being made by employers, managers or personnel providers who may be under pressure to protect reputation.

We will of course keep you updated of any further developments on this issue.