Joint targeted area inspections to focus on child sexual abuse in the family environment

Starting in the autumn of 2025, inspections will consider local areas’ multi-agency responses to child sexual abuse in the family environment. 

Ofsted, Care Quality Commission (CQC), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), have today published guidance for the second round of thematic inspections focusing on child sexual abuse in the family environment, as part of their programme of joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs).

Inspectors will look at how the police, children’s social care, probation services and relevant health services in a local area work together to:

respond to children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment, at the point of identification  

assess, plan and make decisions in response to notifications and referrals of children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment

protect, support, and care for children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment

prevent children from becoming victims of child sexual abuse in the family environment

Inspectors will also evaluate how local agencies work with education and early years providers and the voluntary and community sector, to identify and respond to children who are victims of this kind of abuse.

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care, said:

In 2020, we published a report calling on policy makers and local partners to give greater attention to child sexual abuse in the family environment; so that its prevalence could be better understood, victims could be protected, and offenders brought to justice.