Vulnerable children ‘put in path’ of sex offenders by Lambeth council, report finds

Vulnerable children were subjected to “widespread” sexual and other abuse while in the care of Lambeth council, a long-awaited report has found.

Children living in the south London local authority’s residential and foster care homes during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s complained of being raped, indecently assaulted and sexually abused.

But the inquiry into the abuse heard that of complaints from 705 former residents across three facilities, only one member of senior staff was ever disciplined.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) reported that council employees had historically “treated children in care as if they were worthless” and appeared to demonstrate “a callous disregard for the vulnerable children they were paid to look after”.

Sexual and other abuse of children was “widespread” and a number of victims reported sexual abuse to adults at the time, including to other staff or their social workers, but this often did not result in an investigation or prosecution of alleged offenders, or any disciplinary action being taken.

“Sexual offenders operating within children's homes were likely to have had a sense of being untouchable, while children were left feeling isolated and ignored,” the report stated.

The investigation covered five children's units – Angell Road, South Vale Assessment Centre, the Shirley Oaks complex, Ivy House, and Monkton Street.

Lambeth Council has apologised and said it fully accepted the recommendations of the report.

Investigators found that some children had been taken into care simply because of problems linked to poverty or poor housing.

The report said that from the 1980s onwards, “too many children were taken into care because of a lack of family support, poor planning and poor children's social care practice, often carried out by unqualified staff”.

It added: “Children in care became pawns in a toxic power game within Lambeth Council and between the council and central government.

“This turmoil and failure to act to improve children's social care continued into the 1990s and beyond.”

At the time, Lambeth council was also said to have had a culture defined by “defensiveness and resistance to change – children's interests were secondary to those of staff and councillors”.

The report said that when systemic failures were identified, “time and again they were minimised and levels of risk ignored”, and one former council official told the inquiry that Lambeth “spent a lot of time not being transparent and that problems were covered up”.

The report also considered the circumstances of a child's death – known during the inquiry as LA-A2 – who died in the bathroom at Shirley Oaks in 1977 having previously alleged his house father, Donald Hosegood, abused him.

The inquiry heard Lambeth Council did not inform the coroner of the boy's allegations.

Richard Scorer, specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who is representing the sister LA-A2, said: “IICSA have now recommended that Lambeth Council's cover-up in this case is investigated by the police.

“We urge the Metropolitan Police to act on that recommendation without delay and urgently establish a full investigation - anything less would be a betrayal of our client, of her deceased brother who took his own life in 1977, and of the generations of children who were let down by the litany of council and police failings set out in this report.”

In a statement, Claire Holland, Lambeth council leader, said: “The council was responsible for their care and protection but failed, with profound consequences. The council is deeply sorry for their experiences.

“The extent and scale of the horrendous abuse, which took place over many decades, remains deeply shocking.

“The council failed to acknowledge concerns when they arose, often failed to believe children when they disclosed abuse and then failed to take effective action.

“That so many children and adults were not believed compounded their experiences and caused further pain and distress with lifelong impacts.”

Other areas of investigation during the long-running inquiry have included Westminster and the church.

The IICSA’s final report containing overarchings findings from all 19 sections of the investigation will be laid before parliament next summer.

Additional reporting by PA