Child abuse loophole to be closed

0370 270 6000

Search Mobile

collapse

already registered?

Please sign in with your existing account details.

Email address

Password

need to register?

Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.

Privacy statement - Terms and conditions

Forgotten your password?

collapseSign

Home

Insights & events

Resources

Blogs

Child abuse loophole to be closed

23 June 2011

A legal loophole that could allow those who physically abuse children or vulnerable adults to escape justice is to be closed.

Sometimes a child or vulnerable adult is harmed at home, and it cannot be proved which of the adults living at the home actually perpetrated the harm. This problem was addressed to an extent in 2004. The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act created the offence of ‘causing or allowing the death of a child or a vulnerable person’. Baby P’s mother, boyfriend and lodger were all successfully convicted under this act.

The proposal is now to extend this offence to cover serious physical harm. The CPS supports this. It believes many such cases currently go unprosecuted.

A Private Members Bill has received the Government’s backing, and will surely gain support from all quarters. However it will be more important to monitor how many prosecutions follow. The statute book is full of offences which are never used. Let us hope this does not become one of them.

Related opinions

IR35 rules to be scrapped from April 2023

The Chancellor’s recent mini-budget provided a significant announcement for business as it was confirmed that the off-payroll working rules (known as “IR35”) put in place for public and private sector businesses from 2017 and 2021 will be scrapped from April 2023.

View blog

Challenges from potential Foster Carers and Adopters

Our immediate future shows a renewed focus on foster care. We’re going to see a new nationwide-drive to recruit foster carers and the implementation of a more robust, and potentially financially-generous system for encouraging friends and family to care for their relatives (both when extended families cannot cope or provide care for any reason).

View blog

A helpful decision for claimant solicitors on Limitation under the Human Rights Act in abuse and assault cases?

In this month’s decision of CJ & Ors v Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police the court was given the task of considering whether a sexual abuse action, brought under the Human Rights Act 1998 should be allowed to proceed to trial where the claim had been brought outside the one-year period prescribed by the Act.

View blog

80% hours for 100% pay? That’ll do nicely

As has been widely reported this week, some 3,000 UK workers are taking part in a six month trial to assess the viability of a four-day working week without any reduction in their normal pay.

View blog

View all blogs