Reports & recommendations
107 recommendations from 16 reports, each with the government response on the record. Filter by government response, report, nation or delivery status.
Reports (16)
Recommendations (3)
Access to records for former child migrants
We therefore recommend that that all institutions which sent children abroad as part of the child migration programmes should ensure that they have robust systems in place for retaining and preserving any remaining records that may contain information about individual child migrants, and should provide easy access to them.
The Inquiry asked child migration institutions to preserve records and provide easy access. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, summarising responses of January 2020 on a webpage archived in June 2022, reported that Barnardos maintains a records service and had begun processing archive boxes to improve cataloguing and storage (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jun 2022). It also reported that organisations including Action for Children and the Prince’s Trust provide former child migrants with access to their records free of charge (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jun 2022).
Apologies to former child migrants
As we have set out in the institution-specific sections of the report, some institutions have still not apologised for their role in the child migration programmes. We recommend that they do so, as soon as possible. We recommend that they make such apologies not only through public statements but specifically to those child migrants for whose migration they were responsible.
In June 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse recorded that multiple child migration institutions, including Barnardo's, Action for Children, the Church of England, and the Catholic Church in England and Wales, had published apologies for their roles in child migration (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jun 2022). The Inquiry noted that while several organisations provided personal apologies, Father Hudson’s Care had not reached as many former migrants as it wished due to outdated contact details (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jun 2022). The Inquiry further recorded that the Children’s Society decided against proactively tracing individuals to issue apologies, choosing instead to respond to people who make direct contact (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jun 2022).
Financial redress for former child migrants
As a result, the Panel recommends that HMG establishes a Redress Scheme for surviving former child migrants, providing for an equal award to every applicant. This is on the basis that they were all were exposed to the risk of sexual abuse. Given the age of the surviving former child migrants, the Panel urges HMG to establish the Scheme without delay and expects that payments should start being made within 12 months.
We also propose that no regard be had to any other payments of compensation that have been made in particular cases.
The Inquiry recommended creating an equal redress scheme for surviving former child migrants. In May 2023, HM Government reported that the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) had established an ex-gratia payment scheme offering an equal award to every applicant, with over 1,700 payments made since applications opened in March 2019 (Home Office response, May 2023). It had previously stated in July 2019 that eligible former child migrants receive £20,000 regardless of individual circumstances or other compensation, covering those alive on 1 March 2018 or their beneficiaries (HM Government response, Jul 2019). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of May 2023 (Home Office response, May 2023).