What's really disturbing is that a lobby group - Mandate Now! - is demanding that it should be a crime to fail to report signs of child sexual abuse, such as a change in mood! On top of that, to simplify the ease of which 'victims' can get compensation. What could go wrong? I guess they would consider it 'collateral damage' anyway, in the manner of MWT.

But the pressure group Mandate Now says this recommendation is "very limited".

The group wants it to be an offence to fail to report any signs that children are being abused, such as recognisable changes in behaviour or mental health.

Mandate Now say the inquiry's recommendation is "mandatory reporting in name only".

The inquiry also argues for new child protection authorities for England and Wales - and a new, single scheme for compensating victims of abuse.

It dismissed concerns that victims might "lie for money" as "misplaced and offensive".

www.bbc.com/news/uk-63318342

UK now really is beyond any hope.

The report recommends prosecution for institutional cover up of child abuse. Quite right.

At the foot of this article it mentions that a pressure group says this is too limited and wants prosecution for those who ignore possible signs of (but not evidence or knowledge of) child abuse, such as changes in mood.
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Yes, more controversial by a long way, but not Government policy or a recommendation.

I don't see the problem with institutions and organisations being held to account criminally for not reporting allegations of child rape. Similarly false accusers: both are appalling crimes that destroy lives.

The report recommends that anybody working with children who fail to 'report abuse' be prosecuted. It turns teachers and others into social workers.

There was a recent ballyhoo in the USA over a 17 year old Czech tennis player being kissed and 'patted on the bottom' by her father and her coach. That apparently is 'abuse' in the USA these days. So if a teacher or another coach saw that, he would be legally bound to report it as a crime?

There were calls for this recommendation to be made law in the immediate aftermath of the Jimmy Savile hysteria, and I remember there were cool heads - including in the teaching profession - who pointed out the problems with it then. I guess that lobby group is simply shifting the overton window to make it quite sensible and objection free.

I wonder how normal teenage moodiness fits into these calculations. Just absurd. Who would be a teacher these days?

Mandate Now say the inquiry's recommendation is "mandatory reporting in name only".

The inquiry also argues for new child protection authorities for England and Wales - and a new, single scheme for compensating victims of abuse.

It dismissed concerns that victims might "lie for money" as "misplaced and offensive".
If "it" refers to the inquiry and not the lobby group, this is disturbing. How perversely naive to rule out this possibility. Fraudsters up and down the country will be rubbing their hands with glee, especially if the government follows the inquiry's recommendation and adopts a single compensation scheme that makes getting compensation easier.

HotPot wrote:
The report recommends that anybody working with children who fail to 'report abuse' be prosecuted. It turns teachers and others into social workers.

There was a recent ballyhoo in the USA over a 17 year old Czech tennis player being kissed and 'patted on the bottom' by her father and her coach. That apparently is 'abuse' in the USA these days. So if a teacher or another coach saw that, he would be legally bound to report it as a crime?

There were calls for this recommendation to be made law in the immediate aftermath of the Jimmy Savile hysteria, and I remember there were cool heads - including in the teaching profession - who pointed out the problems with it then. I guess that lobby group is simply shifting the overton window to make it quite sensible and objection free.

I think we just have to hope that anything implemented is implemented and enforced sensibly.

If a teacher is informed by a child they are being raped and the teacher does not pass it on then I have no problem with this being looked at and potentially some facing prosecution. If it was not passed on because of pressure from a Head Teacher not to draw attention to their school, for example.

But yes there were loonies suggesting a couple of years back that a teacher should be locked in Alcatraz if they didn't report a moody teenager. There will always be some who promulgate any harmful extreme in the name of a "good cause"; and many who make a living doing so.