£100m scheme for child sexual abuse survivors

Lambeth Council is launching a scheme, costing £100 million, to support survivors of historic sexual, physical and psychological abuse.

Beloved to be the first of its kind in the UK, the scheme will provide quick and compassionate redress, while ensuring compensation for survivors of abuse is not swallowed up by lawyers’ fees.

An Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up by the then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014 and Lambeth Council was first named as part of its investigation in 2015. The investigation covering Lambeth was expected to have taken place in 2017 but this is now not expected to take place until March 2019 at the earliest.

Lib Peck, council leader, said: “Terrible abuse occurred at Lambeth children’s homes prior to their closure in the ‘80s and ‘90s and for many the trauma suffered by survivors lives on to this day. As the current leader of Lambeth Council I make a full and genuine apology for the abuse that people suffered due to historic failings in the care system. We’ve taken the decision not to be like past administrations and instead to address the issues from a very dark period of Lambeth’s history.

“We are now set to deliver on our pledge to survivors of abuse who have been so very badly let down in the past. This redress scheme offers a formal apology, compensation and access to specialist counselling. It features a unique Harm’s Way Payment and avoids re-traumatising abuse survivors who would otherwise have no choice but to go through the courts.

“We have acted now to deliver this scheme because survivors have already waited too long for redress and there is sadly little prospect of national action on this issue in the near future. I thank the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association who have worked tirelessly to support survivors and to raise the profile of the terrible abuse that occurred in Lambeth children’s homes.”