Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs: Local Area Investigations – key points

Background

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs will examine the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by grooming gangs at both national and local levels. It will look not only at the actions of offenders, but also at whether public bodies - including local authorities, safeguarding partnerships and other agencies—failed to protect vulnerable children.

The Inquiry has announced its first local investigations in Oldham, Bradford and Keighley, and London. Further areas will be selected in stages as the work progresses.

How Local Areas Will Be Chosen 

The Inquiry has published criteria explaining how it will decide which areas to investigate. Selection will be based on both evidence and broader concerns and considerations, recognising that a lack of recorded cases does not necessarily mean a lack of harm.

Key factors include:

• Victim and survivor experiences – Information already shared by victims and survivors, including the nature of abuse, experiences of reporting concerns, access to support, and whether action was taken.

• Signs of prevalence, harm or risk – Evidence of known or suspected abuse, repeat suspects, linked offending, prosecutions, safeguarding concerns and relevant health indicators.

• Public interest – Issues highlighted through parliamentary debate, media coverage, previous reviews, or concerns raised directly with the Inquiry.

• Institutional or systemic failings – Possible failures in recognising exploitation, safeguarding decision-making, social care, education, healthcare, multi-agency working, information sharing, or implementing previous recommendations.

• Previous reviews and unresolved concerns – Areas where earlier investigations identified issues, or where concerns exist despite little or no previous scrutiny.

The Inquiry will also consider whether an investigation could provide lessons for the wider country, whether evidence is available, and whether the work can be completed within its resources and timetable.

What the Investigations Will Cover

Investigations will focus on the periods most relevant to the evidence within the Inquiry's overall timeframe of 1 January 1996 to 31 March 2029. While each investigation will centre on a defined local area, the Inquiry may follow evidence beyond local boundaries where necessary to understand the local area under investigation. 

The Inquiry will examine both organisational systems and, where relevant, decisions made by individuals in positions of responsibility.

Main Areas of Investigation

Knowledge and recognition of risk

• What organisations knew about risks and abuse.

• Whether gaps in intelligence, risk assessments, data or pattern recognition contributed to failures to act.

Institutional response and decision-making

• The adequacy, timeliness and consistency of organisations’ responses to concerns.

• Whether safeguarding thresholds, escalation processes and resource allocation were adequate.

• Whether victims were identified and supported at the earliest opportunity.

Missed opportunities to prevent harm

• Points where intervention could have reduced risk or prevented abuse.

• How effective prevention and disruption measures were.

Leadership, governance and organisational culture

• Whether leadership, organisational culture or institutional attitudes influenced decision-making.

• Whether factors such as the ethnicity or culture of perpetrators and victims affected responses.

• Whether there was reluctance or resistance to taking action.

Multi-agency working and information sharing

• How effectively agencies worked together.

• The strength of safeguarding partnerships, community safety arrangements and information-sharing practices.

Locations, premises and sector-specific risks

• How risks linked to particular settings were identified and managed.

• This may include taxis, hotels, takeaways, parks, public spaces, children's homes, schools and places of worship.

Risk factors and vulnerability

• Whether services responded appropriately to vulnerabilities such as being in care, school absence, homelessness, or other indicators of harm.

Learning lessons and current arrangements

• Whether recommendations from previous reviews led to meaningful change.

• Accountability where improvements were not delivered.

• Whether current safeguarding, policing and partnership arrangements require further improvement.

What This Means for Local Authorities

The Inquiry's approach goes beyond reviewing individual cases. It will examine how organisations recognised risk, responded to concerns, worked together, learned from previous failings and protected vulnerable children. Areas selected for investigation can expect detailed scrutiny of both historical practice and current arrangements, with a strong focus on institutional accountability and lessons for the future

Preparing to engage with local area investigations

Once an area is named, and key parties identified, the Inquiry is likely to move quickly with requests for information and disclosure often arriving in quick succession. For local authorities, and related agencies alike, it is strongly advisable to start preparing to engage with the Inquiry before being approached. 

Key considerations, and proactive actions: 

1. Hillsborough Law: In light of the draft Public Office (Accountability) Bill 2025, also known as the Hillsborough Law, which is expected to pass into legislation this year, there is heightened scrutiny on transparency, candour and frankness when engaging with an inquiry. Parties will therefore need to adopt rigorous disclosure processes to proactively identify relevant information on an ongoing basis and should prepare to draw the Inquiry’s attention to points of particular significance. Please see our earlier post for more information on this.
2. Document preservation: Related to the above, organisations should consider issuing instructions to ensure potentially relevant documents are preserved. It may also be helpful to get ahead of any future disclosure requests by proactively identifying where potentially relevant records might be stored, including identifying key individuals who might be custodians of such documents. 
3. Current governance: Far from a historic investigation, the scope of the Inquiry’s investigation extends until 31 March 2029. Organisations should therefore prepare to have their current governance and safeguarding procedures come under scrutiny. Organisations should therefore ensure that policy reviews are up to date, and that any improvements are identified and implemented as a priority. 
4. Core participant status: Organisations likely to be directly affected should also consider whether an application for Core Participant status may be appropriate. Core Participants have enhanced rights, including access to relevant evidence, the ability to make opening and closing statements, and opportunities to suggest lines of questioning. Early consideration of strategy and representation can therefore be important. 

How Stone King can help 

Our Public & Regulatory team has extensive experience supporting clients through some of the UK's most significant inquiries, investigations and regulatory reviews. Our work includes advising participants in the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Infected Blood Inquiry and the Brook House Inquiry. 

Working alongside colleagues across the firm, we combine public inquiry expertise with deep experience in:

• Safeguarding and child protection;
• Local government governance and accountability;
• Education, charities and faith organisations;
• Employment and workforce investigations;
• Judicial review and public law;
• Large-scale disclosure and evidence management; and
• Regulatory and reputational risk management.

As the Inquiry progresses, organisations will need advisers who understand not only inquiry procedures, but also the realities of safeguarding systems and local authority operations. Our multidisciplinary team is well placed to provide that support. Please do reach out to Melanie Carter if you would like to discuss.