UPDATED: 19 August 2025
Grooming is a process that "involves the offender building a relationship with a child, and sometimes with their wider family, gaining their trust and a position of power over the child, in preparation for abuse.”
Grooming is often the precursor to abuse and is a process used to prepare children for sexual abuse and exploitation, radicalisation or criminal exploitation.
Although there is legislation in the UK to attempt to tackle grooming, further work is required to strengthen the provisions to further keep children safe from harm, abuse and exploitation.
This blog tracks the progress of key activities.
June 2025: Baroness Casey’s rapid National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse is published and Keir Starmer announces a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs
In June 2025, Baroness Casey’s rapid National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse is published. This audit focused on examining data from three police forces: Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. The report identified an institutional failure to protect children and teenage girls from rape, exploitation and serious violence. In her report, Casey concluded that too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13- to 15-year-old is perceived to have been “in love with” or have “consented to” sex with the perpetrator.
The Prime Minister then made the announcement that the government would launch a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs. This was following the recommendations of the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Baroness Casey.
February 2025 – Crime and Policing Bill announced in House of Commons
On 25 February, Yvette Cooper (Home Secretary) announced the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Commons.
The Crime and Policing Bill introduced grooming as an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences. This means that the offending would be viewed as more serious and therefore must be considered by the court when deciding the length of the sentence when a person has utilised grooming behaviours to commit child sexual offences.
This bill is currently progressing through the House of Lords and therefore this measure is not currently in legislation.
Read the bill and factsheet here:
April 2024: Thirtyone:eight publishes a manifesto
We published our first-ever manifesto setting out the key opportunities we have identified to improve policy, legislation and guidance to offer greater protection from harm and abuse to all children and adults living in the UK.
The manifesto, entitled ‘Together we can - a manifesto for a safer society for all’, contains a number of key recommendations grouped into three main themes. The recommendations aim to strengthen the safeguards that are already in place, better protect victims and survivors of abuse, and create safer environments for all. One of the key areas of focus in the manifesto is grooming and the need for a clear and recognised legal definition which includes the online element of grooming, an extension of the age category to 16 to 18 year olds to be protected from grooming and the creation of an offence of grooming which focuses on the preceding grooming behaviour across the UK.
Read the Thirtyone:eight manifesto.
Read about the work Thirtyone:eight is calling for
October 2022: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was established in 2015 as a statutory inquiry for England and Wales and took seven years to complete. It was independent and was therefore not led by any specific government department. The inquiry heard 7,000 personal testimonies, 15 investigations, public hearings and considered two million pages of evidence.
The final report was published in October 2022 and made 20 specific recommendations based on the evidence considered as part of the inquiry.
Read the report and recommendations here:
As part of the final report, an investigation report was published on Child sexual exploitation by organised networks which highlighted the prevalence of grooming in children’s experience of sexual exploitation.
Read the investigation report here:
July 2022: Independent Inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation is published
In July 2022, Tom Crowther’s independent inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation was published. The report found that more than 1,000 girls had been abused over a 40 year period in Telford. It found that teachers and social workers were discouraged from reporting child sexual abuse, there was a lack of sharing information between agencies and often children were blamed for the abuse instead of the perpetrators.
You can read the report here:
June 2022: Independent review into historic child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Oldham is published
In June 2022, the independent review into historic child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Oldham was published. This review was undertaken by Malcolm Newsam CBE (child protection specialist) and Gary Ridgeway (former senior police officer). The review found that there were serious failings in the handling of some cases due to child protection procedures not being properly followed and lack of sharing information between teams. The review concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that senior managers or councillors sought to cover up the child sexual exploitation (CSE) and that Oldham Council did everything possible to publicise the threat of child sexual exploitation (CSE) and continue to try to develop best practice in addressing child sexual exploitation. However, these efforts did not always mean that young people at risk of child sexual exploitation were appropriately safeguarded.
You can read the review here:
February 2015: Report into Rotherham Council's handling of child sexual abuse is published by the Government
In February 2015, Baroness Casey published the report she was commissioned by the Government to undertake into Rotherham Council’s handling of child sexual abuse. The report concluded that the council had a bullying, sexist culture of covering up information and silencing whistleblowers.
You can read the report here:
August 2014: Report into Child Sexual Exploitations in Rotherham commissioned by Rotherham Council is published
In August 2014, Professor Alexis Jay published a report commissions by Rotherham Council into Child Exploitation in Rotherham. The report found that 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013 by predominantly British-Pakistani men.
You can read the report here:
Between 2008-2013: Child sexual exploitation and grooming scandals became public knowledge
Across these years, the following child sexual exploitation and grooming gang scandals broke including Rotherham, Oldham, Telford, Bradford and Huddersfield.
You can read about these here:
The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008
In 2008, “meeting a child following sexual grooming” became an offence under The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. This mean that a person aged 18 or over commits an offence if they intentionally meet a child under 16 years old (having met with or communicated with them prior), or either party travel with the intention of meeting each other, or the person aged over 18 having the intention of exploiting the child through sexual offences.
Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005
In 2005, “meeting a child following certain preliminary contact” became an offence under the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act. This means that it is an offence for a person aged 18 or over to meet or intend to meet with a child under the age of 16 years old having previously met or communicated with them, having the intention to engage in unlawful sexual activity either during or after the meeting.
Sexual Offences Act 2003: England and Wales
In 2003, “meeting a child following sexual grooming” was made an offence under the Sexual Offences Act (2003) in England and Wales. This means that it is an offence for a person aged 18 years or over to have met or communicated with a child under the age of 16 years old and subsequently intentionally meet them, for either party to travel with the intention of meeting or the person having the intention of exploiting the child during or after the meeting through sexual offences.