Rotherham MP Sarah Champion has joined forces with a national organisation which is campaigning for better treatment of survivors of child sexual abuse.
The Labour MP is working with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and has called on the Government to extend a compensation scheme so it can help more victims of sexual abuse, including those who were groomed online as children.
She has tabled an amendment to the Victims and Courts Bill which would broaden eligibility for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) in line with a recommendation from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
“Ms Champion is a longstanding campaigner to improve redress for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation and her amendment is an important opportunity to do the right thing by survivors of some of the most abhorrent crimes, that have life-long implications. Survivors need a route to redress. Online abuse is still abuse,” said APIL’s Kim Harrison, who is a specialist child abuse lawyer.
The Government announced in April that it would not carry forward IICSA’s recommendation. The amendment would reverse that decision.
“Abuse survivors were dealt a bitter blow when the Government rejected the clear finding from the long-running IICSA to expand who qualifies for compensation from the CICS.
“The inquiry heard harrowing testimonies from victims who were effectively brushed aside by the decision not to expand the compensation scheme,” said Ms Harrison, who represented survivors at the inquiry.
The amendment would also increase the time limit to make an application for compensation to seven years from the date the offence was reported to the police, or from the applicant’s 18th birthday if the offence was reported while they were a child. Survivors with unspent convictions would also no longer be automatically excluded from the scheme where offences are linked to the circumstances of their abuse as a child.
Ms Champion said: “Children who have been sexually abused should not have to face unjust barriers when trying to access compensation - they've already been through enough.
“They should have adequate time to apply for compensation, no criminal history should matter, especially when it’s linked to their abuse, and all forms of sexual abuse should qualify - online abuse can be just as damaging.
“We should be supporting survivors to access every form of justice. That’s why I am pushing the Government to follow through on its commitments and adopt IICSA Recommendation 18.”
Ms Harrison added: “It’s unfair to automatically exclude abuse survivors with a criminal record from being compensated. Research shows that many children may be groomed by their abuser into committing crime. It is only fair that in certain circumstances certain criminal offences should not be a bar to receiving compensation under the scheme.
“An extended time limit to seven years is the right and fair thing to do as survivors of non-recent childhood sexual abuse can take a long time, often years, before they feel able to talk about what happened to them as a child, let alone report the crime to the authorities.”