NCA to target grooming gangs nationwide

The National Crime Agency (NCA) will carry out a nationwide operation to target and jail predators who have sexually exploited children as part of a grooming gang, according to the Home Office.

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

It comes ahead of the release of a report by Baroness Louise Casey 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.

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

The Home Office said police had reopened more than 800 historic cases of group-based child sexual abuse 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," Yvette Cooper said.

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

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.

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.

In January, the government stopped short of launching a statutory national inquiry intro grooming gangs despite the idea receiving support from some Labour MPs.

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

That report is expected to be published on Monday and Cooper is set to address the findings of the review in Parliament.

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.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the decision to launch the inquiry should have happened "far, far earlier".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended the decision to launch a national inquiry, telling the programme on Sunday that ministers "never dismissed the concerns of victims" of grooming gangs.