NEWS REVIEW

Campaigning success to better protect children and young people

Following significant campaigning and research undertaken by Thirtyone:eight and other organisations, a change in the law on ‘Positions of Trust’ to be inclusive of a wider range of settings, including those in faith settings, has achieved Royal Assent and is now active law in England and Wales. Within the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, the ‘Positions of Trust’ law, which previously only applied to roles such as teachers and social workers, has been extended to include roles such as faith leaders and sports coaches.

This comes after the All –Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Safeguarding in Faith Settings, supported by Thirtyone:eight as its secretariat, launched their influential report on the issue: Positions of Trust: It’s time to change the law. The Ministry of Justice acknowledged the work of the APPG and Thirtyone:eight saying they had “helped inform our thinking as we consider the protections afforded to children and young people by the criminal law.” Justin Humphreys, our CEO (Safeguarding) and Principal Advisor to the APPG, said: "This significant change to the law has been several years in the making. Thirtyone:eight and others including the NSPCC have campaigned long and hard to protect the rights of children and young people from abuse by those in positions of trust over them. While the changes may not have gone as far as we might have liked, they are nonetheless important and will hopefully provide young people with greater safeguards into the future.”

On 27 April 2022, the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill (Northern Ireland) gained Royal Assent. This Bill extends 'abuse of trust' legislation to faith leaders and sports coaches in Northern Ireland. Along with the NSPCC, faith, and sports organisations, Thirtyone:eight successfully campaigned to the Northern Ireland Assembly to bring about this welcome change in legislation. A further amendment will be undertaken during the next mandate. Thirtyone:eight will continue to advocate on behalf of our children and young people.

'THIS SIGNIFICANT CHANGE TO THE LAW HAS BEEN SEVERAL YEARS IN THE MAKING. THIRTYONE:EIGHT AND OTHERS INCLUDING THE NSPCC HAVE CAMPAIGNED LONG AND HARD TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE FROM ABUSE BY THOSE IN POSITIONS OF TRUST OVER THEM.'

Growing calls for young people to report harmful online content

Ofcom says 67% of 13 to 24 –year –olds have seen harmful content on social media, but only 17% report it. The UK regulator will be tasked with enforcing measures in the forthcoming Online Safety Bill to better protect children and adults from harmful online content, placing a heavy emphasis on social media companies to step up and do better.

As part of this, Ofcom will have the power to impose fines of £18m or 10% of a company’s global turnover for breaching the act. Expected to become law by the end of the year, the Online Safety Bill aims to stop children from being exposed to harmful or inappropriate content and establishes a duty of care on tech firms to protect people from harmful user –generated content. Read more about helping children and young people stay safe online on our blog:

thirtyoneeight.org/blogs

Homes for Ukraine scheme flag safeguarding concerns

More than one in ten local authorities have raised safeguarding concerns with the Home Office over people in their area listed to sponsor a refugee under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, according to an investigation by CYP Now. A Freedom of Information request, sent to all 152 local authorities in England, asked if councils had alerted the Home Office to any potential safeguarding issues around listed sponsors, who may have connected with families with children or young adults through the scheme. The results found that 16% of councils, which responded to the request, reported at least one or more sponsors listed to have matched with refugees in their areas as posing a safeguarding risk. Experts have raised concerns over increased safeguarding risks due to a lack of a central matching system.

The latest data shows that as of 7 June, 40,085 Ukrainian refugees had arrived to live with sponsors in England under the scheme, with school –aged children accounting for almost a quarter of this number.

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