Reverse burden for organisational failure to prevent harm
Consideration should be given to a different approach to the prosecution of organisations for failing to prevent deliberate harm being caused by their employees, such as by applying a reverse burden to the offence. This would require any organisation, such as an HSCT, to prove that, where deliberate harm had been caused to a service user by any individual employed by that organisation, that it had taken all reasonable and practicable steps to prevent such deliberate harm to service users, or alternatively, that that it was not practicable or not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done.
Response
Response Pending
Response
Response PendingNo government response recorded.
Progress Timeline
Report published 18 June 2026. No formal government response published. R2 requires DoH to indicate within six months which recommendations it accepts.