97 Response Accepted in Part

Clarify Compensation Act on apologies

Recommendation

The government should introduce legislation revising the Compensation Act 2006 to clarify that section 2 facilitates apologies or offers of treatment or other redress to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse by institutions that may be vicariously liable for the actions or omissions of other persons, including the perpetrators.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- On 16 March 2021, the Ministry of Justice stated that it would consult on the subject of apologies, including consideration of the use of apologies in civil litigation (Government Response, Ministry of Justice, March 2021).
- In May 2023, the government stated that it accepted the principle and would consult on strengthening existing judicial guidance on apologies (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
- No published legislation amending the Compensation Act 2006 as specified has been identified to March 2026.
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by claude-opus-4-6 on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
I
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
22 May 2023

On 16 March 2021, the Ministry of Justice stated that it would consult on the subject of apologies, including consideration of the use of apologies in civil proceedings generally. On 4 May 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that it still planned on consulting on the law of apologies and that the government would then consider necessary substantive reform.

Read Full Response
Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report Accountability and Reparations Investigation Report 19 Sep 2019
View Source
Responsible Bodies
UK Government Primary
Themes & Tags
Victims' Code breaches (CSA) Compensation Act Apologies Legislation
Recommendation age 6.6 yrs
Last formal update 1054 days ago