86 Response Accepted Self-assessed

Review CSA support services expenditure (England)

Recommendation

The Chair and Panel recommend that the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office work together to establish current levels of public expenditure, and the effectiveness of that expenditure on services for child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in England.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the Government response to IICSA’s Accountability and Reparations Report, the Ministry of Justice established a cross-government working group, which gathered data on current public expenditure on support services for child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in England by July 2019. The Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education, Ministry of Justice, and Home Office subsequently reviewed this public expenditure by 26 February 2020, stating that the UK government's strategy on child sexual abuse aimed to ensure effective support. No further published evidence has been identified since February 2020.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
H
Response
Accepted
Accepted in Part UK Government Initial Response
20 Dec 2018

The Government agrees that more clarity is needed on the effectiveness of public expenditure on services for victims of child sexual abuse. The Government will present findings to the Inquiry within one year.

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Accepted UK Government Follow-up
22 Jul 2019

The MoJ has established a cross-government working group with DHSC, DfE and Home Office. The MoJ has gathered data on the current level of public expenditure on services dedicated to providing tailored support for child victims and adult survivors of sexual abuse. A progress report will be submitted to the SAAS Partnership Board in September. Work is on track to present findings to the Inquiry by December 2019.

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Accepted UK Government Follow-up
22 May 2023

On 22 July 2019, the UK government stated that the Ministry of Justice had established a cross-government working group, and had gathered data on the current level of public expenditure on support services for victims and survivors of sexual abuse. On 26 February 2020, the Ministry of Justice, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education and the Home Office stated that they had reviewed public expenditure. They stated that the UK government's strategy on child sexual abuse seeks to take a whole-system approach to addressing the provision of support services.

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Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report Interim Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 25 Apr 2018
Responsible Bodies
Department of Health and Social Care Primary
Recommendation age 7.9 yrs
Last formal update 1037 days ago