Grooming Gang Inquiry’s terms of reference are launched today

Today, (31st March 2026) marks the start of the grooming gang inquiry with Baroness Anne Longfield announcing the terms of reference for the inquiry.

Baroness Longfield has stated that “her review will examine questions that previous inquiries have chose not to address” and she has vowed that she “will not flinch from uncomfortable truths.”

The inquiry will focus on sexual exploitation by grooming gangs and will examine:

1. Institutions that failed to protect children.
2. The ethnicity, culture or religion of either the perpetrators or victims influenced patters of offending.
3. Whether the above factors shaped the institutional response.

Cases spanning the last 30 years will be examined with the aim to understand the patterns of abuse.

This inquiry is different from previous inquiries in that there will also be an unspecified number of local inquiries, the first being Oldham and the inquiry will publish its reports as the inquiry progresses.

The inquiry will conclude its work in March 2028 and has a budget of £65m.

In launching the inquiry, it has been made clear that it is not disputed that children have been sexually abused and exploited by grooming gangs. 

What the inquiry will established is why this has been minimised and why institutions that exist to protect children chose not to act. How grooming gangs operated and were able to do so for so long and what institutions knew and what they did or didn’t do will be answered.

Baroness Longfield, who is not a judge, will employ legal assistance and the inquiry will have statutory powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country's history, where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

"The chair and I have agreed that the Inquiry will be laser-focused on grooming gangs and will explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture of the offenders and in the response of institutions.

"There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes."

The inquiry will begin its investigation on the 13th April 2026 after their terms or reference are laid before Parliament.