‘The law needs to change,’ says Telford sexual abuse victim denied compensation

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was a victim of one of the seven men jailed in 2012 following a police investigation into child sexual exploitation in Telford called Operation Chalice.

Now in her 30s, the woman has been seeking compensation from the council she believes should be held responsible.

She has recently been told by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman that it won’t be investigating the case “because it is unlikely we could reach a sound and evidence-based conclusion and achieve a meaningful outcome”.

A letter, from a solicitor who advised Telford & Wrekin Council, was shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service. It says that the “council never had a formal care order” despite the authority “working with your family, providing assistance to them.”

The letter, dated February 2024, says; “The starting point on assessing liability is that the abuse clearly took place and that you were living in Telford. That means that the local authority responsible for providing social services was Telford.

“The question then is whether they are legally liable.”

However they said that a formal care order was not in place and that means the council “did not automatically owe a duty of care to keep you safe”.

The solicitors say the issue has been tested in the Supreme Court and the effect has been to “restrict the circumstances in which the council would owe you a duty of care, and therefore an obligation to pay you compensation.”

They say that the council would only have a duty of care to protect her from the abusers if the council “created the danger” or if they prevented others from helping.

The letter also adds that the social care records kept by the council do not indicate that social workers knew that she was being abused.

She was also barred from making both claims of negligence and on human rights grounds because the law says she must have made the claims by her 21st birthday.

The woman said: “There is something seriously wrong with a legal system where there is no ‘duty of care’ to a child in all circumstances, especially when the council workers were involved with the family

“It must change so that there is an automatic duty of care.

“There have been instances where I have not been believed and was even told that I was looking for someone to blame.

“The system seems weighted against victims and I feel that I have nowhere else to go now that every avenue has been closed off.

“There are others in my position, and it is not right, or fair.”

Telford & Wrekin Council receives many claims for compensation over the course of a year but decisions are handled by insurance companies and lawyers.

A spokesperson for the council said it had gone to ‘great lengths’ to support the woman.

“Details of any claims made are confidential and it would be inappropriate for us to comment in any detail but we can confirm the Local Government Ombudsman has ruled the council did not mishandle this complaint.

“It is also true that since 2022, in responding to this claim, the council has gone to great lengths to provide support, offering to meet several times and offering to cover costs for the complainant to obtain independent legal advice around the matter.”