Government to set up national Child Protection Authority as part of reforms to protect children from abuse

The Child Protection Authority delivers on a key recommendation from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s report and problems identified by the Casey Audit into group-based child sexual exploitation.  

It aims to help protect children from harms including sexual exploitation and abuse, domestic violence, trafficking, organised crime, and other complex risks.

The Government noted: “At present, intelligence on harms can be fragmented, data analysis patchy, and lessons from serious cases slow to translate into practice. The Child Protection Authority will address these issues head on by providing strong leadership to ensure good child protection practice is embedded consistently across local areas.”

The proposal comes alongside a package of measures being introduced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which are intened to ensure that agencies responsible for looking after children are working together closely and sharing relevant information, to get frontline expertise to where it is needed.

It also sits alongside the Independent Inquiry into grooming gangs announced by the Home Secretary this week, to be chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield.

Minister for Children and Families, Josh MacAlister said: “Every child deserves to grow up safe, and we owe it to victims and survivors to confront the problems that have allowed abuse and exploitation to go unchecked.  

“The creation of a Child Protection Authority is a key part of our response to the massive failings which have been exposed by the grooming gangs scandal and by horrifying child protection cases like that of Sara Sharif. 

“The Government is taking broad action to build a more expert, decisive and focused child protection system, and this consultation is vital as we step up protections for children, and we want to hear from practitioners, experts, families and survivors to make sure we get this right.”

Sir David Holmes CBE, Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel chair, said: “The Child Protection Authority will absorb and build on the foundations laid by our Panel, ensuring that national learning from serious incidents translates into practical improvements that frontline professionals can implement. This is an opportunity to deliver a system that is even more evidence-based, collaborative, and focused on outcomes for children. We will work closely with Government, safeguarding partners, and practitioners to shape this new authority and ensure it reflects the voices of those who work tirelessly to protect children every day.

“We urge everyone who works with children to respond to the consultation so together we can build a system that puts children first.”

The Government is consulting on the powers the Child Protection Authority (CPA) should have, its organisational model and governance structure, shaped by feedback from the sector.

The CPA consultation will run for 12 weeks.

Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “I welcome the progress being made on the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, to build a stronger child protection system and improve the evidence base so that children are listened to and kept safe from harm.

“The ongoing failures in responding to abuse, including by grooming gangs, and the daily risks faced by vulnerable children highlights just how far we still are from fixing the children’s social care system.

“My office will respond to the consultation in full and will seek clarity on how the proposed Child Protection Authority will work alongside the current Ofsted inspection framework. The quality of children’s social care must be given the priority it deserves."

Lottie Winson