Yvette Cooper says she will force professionals to report child sexual abuse claims

Professionals who work with children will face criminal sanctions if they fail to report claims of child sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year, Yvette Cooper has told MPs.

The home secretary has promised to implement a key demand from Prof Alexis Jay’s child sexual abuse inquiry after Keir Starmer turned down demands from Elon Musk and Kemi Badenoch for a new investigation into paedophile gangs.

The introduction of mandatory reporting in England and Wales would be included in the crime and policing bill expected to be introduced to parliament in the spring, Cooper told parliament.

“We will make it mandatory to report abuse, and we will put the measures in the crime and policing bill that will be put before parliament this spring, making it an offence with professional and criminal sanctions to fail to report or cover up child sexual abuse,” she said.

In a sharp attack upon the previous government’s record, she added: “This measure is something I first called for in response to the reports and failings in Rotherham 10 years ago. It’s something that the Prime Minister first called for 12 years ago based on his experience as Director of Public Prosecutions, and the case was clear then. But we’ve lost a decade, and we need to get on with it now.”

She also disclosed that the government plans to:

• Introduce a victims and survivors panel to oversee reforms.

• Make grooming an aggravating factor in child sexual offences.

• Establish a core dataset for child abuse and protection.

Similar plans for a mandatory reporting obligation on professionals were supposed to be introduced last year as part of Rishi Sunak’s criminal justice bill but campaigners and lawyers heavily criticised them for being “watered down”.

A recommendation of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, headed by Jay, called for a new criminal offence for professionals in a position of trust – including teachers, doctors, priests and social workers – who fail to report child sex abuse.

The demand came after the inquiry heard evidence that some failed to act upon young people’s claims of abuse or investigate further their colleagues’ suspicions.

But the proposed legislation under the Tories meant there would have been no criminal sanction for failure to fulfil the duty, and would have only applied to “persons in the service of the crown” such as diplomats and members of the armed forces, but not doctors, teachers or social workers.

Campaigners also criticised the criminal justice bill for watering down the reporting of abuse by requiring only “hard evidence” – seeing the abuse, photos of it, or actual disclosure – rather than suspicions or indicators of abuse.

The bill was ditched before it became law, which means that at present there is no legal duty for professionals to report suspicions or claims of child sexual abuse.

By contrast, there is mandatory reporting for suspicions of money laundering.

Cooper said the government will also make grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing, and overhaul