ACAL has agreed to support a campaign to make the failure to report abuse a criminal offence, or to put it another way “make mandatory reporting a crime”.
Sign the campaign now, which can be found on the Change.org website here
More importantly write to your MP using the wording you can find on the Change.org website, or download a letter in Word Format by clicking the link – Mandatory Reporting Letter to MP.
To quote the campaign website:-
“If you work with children, and see one of your charges being abused or even raped, you might think you and your employer had a legal obligation to report it to the authorities. Not so. There is no legal requirement on anyone working with minors in England (Wales or Scotland) to report allegations or witnessed abuse of a child, including rape, to either the Local Authority Designated Officer
(LADO) or the police.
Legislation is urgently needed which requires staff in faith groups, national sports bodies and clubs, schools and all similar institutions which are defined as ‘Regulated Activities,’ to inform the LADO of all concerns, allegations and incidents of abuse so that experienced and independent assessment is introduced immediately to ensure perpetrators are stopped as soon as possible.
In the recently published review undertaken by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile between 1964 and 2012 entitled ‘Mistakes were made,’ recommendation #3 of just five states:
‘We consider that a system of mandatory reporting should be examined whereby those who, in the course of their professional duties, become aware of information or evidence that a child is or has been the victim of abuse should be under a legal obligation to notify their concerns to others.’
The campaign is being fronted by the charities NAPAC, Survivors UK, Respond, IID + The Survivors Trust
We have to thank Fay for designing a special logo for the campaign.
We are also being supported by the celebrated Guardian Journalist Louise Tickle, who has written this hugely helpful article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/22/abuse-allegations-school-teachers-reporting
We also have a Twitter page which goes under the hashtag @mandatenow
So get tweeting please.