Police operation to target grooming gangs nationwide

A nationwide policing operation to find and jail grooming gang members who sexually exploited children will be led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), according to the Home Office.

It said the NCA would work with police forces to give victims whose cases had not progressed through the criminal justice system "long-awaited justice" and prevent more children from being hurt by such crimes.

It comes ahead of a report by Baroness Louise Casey being published later on Monday on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced on Saturday there would be a full national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs covering England and Wales.

After Baroness Casey's report is published, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to address her findings in Parliament.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he would hold Cooper to account for what he alleged was a "deliberate cover up" by police forces, local authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Philp added that he wanted the national inquiry to result in misconduct in public office prosecutions for those allegedly involved.

Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there were people who, "if not held to a criminal standard, should be held to a professional standard for their negligence in protecting these children".

She said there was "overwhelming public concern" and an "intense frustration that there [were] still victims and survivors who haven't seen justice."

The Home Office said police had reopened more than 800 historic cases of child sexual abuse by groups since the home secretary had asked them in January to look again at cases that were "closed too early and victims denied justice".

"The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children," Cooper said.

"Not enough people listened to them then," the home secretary added. "That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now."

The NCA operation will aim to imprison more perpetrators of child sexual abuse, protect more victims and improve how local police forces investigate such crimes, the Home Office said. It will target both historic and current investigations.

It will also aim to "put an end to the culture of denial in local services and authorities about the prevalence of this crime".

Baroness Casey has recommended the government follow "best practice law enforcement examples in the NCA and in West Yorkshire Police", a Home Office source told the BBC.

The NCA "will encompass existing specialist capability such as the CSE Taskforce, Operation Hydrant and the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme", the source said.

The government will also develop a "National Operating Model" for investigating these types of crimes, as part of Police Reform plans, they added.

The Home Office said the national inquiry announced by the prime minister on Saturday would be able to "compel" investigations into "historic cases of grooming gang crimes".

That would ensure complaints and allegations of "mishandling, wrongdoing and cover-ups by police, agencies and other professionals and elected officials are brought to light and those responsible held accountable", the Home Office added.

It said the inquiry would report to a single chairperson and its panel would have the power to call witnesses to hearings.

Former chief prosecutor for North West England, Nazir Afzal, said he had "pragmatic doubts" about a new national inquiry as they "take forever and don't deliver accountability".

"Only criminal investigations can bring real accountability," he told the Today programme. "That's what needs to happen. Not just for those who offended, but also those who stood by and didn't do what they were meant to do."

The grooming gangs issue was thrust into the spotlight at the start of 2025, fuelled partly by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who had criticised Sir Keir for not calling a national inquiry.

A row between the two centred on high-profile cases where groups of men, mainly of Pakistani descent, were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young white girls in towns such as Rotherham and Rochdale.

On Saturday, Sir Keir said he had read an independent report into child sexual exploitation by Baroness Casey and would accept her recommendation for an inquiry covering England and Wales.

For months, the prime minister has faced criticism for not being willing to set up a national inquiry, with the Conservatives claiming they had forced him into a U-turn.

In January, the government stopped short of launching a statutory national inquiry into grooming gangs despite the idea receiving support from some Labour MPs. It argued the issue had already been examined in a seven-year inquiry led by Prof Alexis Jay.

Instead, Cooper unveiled plans for five government-backed local inquiries - to be held in Oldham and four other areas yet to be named.

She also announced a "rapid" three-month audit, led by Baroness Casey, into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.

Baroness Casey's report is expected to make clear that many of its findings are not new.

Previous government reports, reviews, inquiries and investigations over the past 15 years had already warned about group-based child sexual exploitation,

Prof Jay's report, finished in October 2022 under the previous government, made 20 recommendations for change but none were implemented.