This week marks two years since the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) published a raft of final recommendations after one of the biggest public inquires in history.

It’s shameful that survivors of abuse are still waiting for any meaningful change to happen.

After all the work that went in to holding the inquiry - it was established in 2015 and heard from more than 6,000 abuse victims and survivors - there seems to be little sense of urgency to get on and put things right.

Implementing change after the recommendations the inquiry made is necessary to safeguard children in the here and now, as well as providing redress to past victims and survivors of abuse.

Among the recommendations was setting up a redress scheme. Despite its laudable aims, the proposed scheme fails to go far enough. We need a meaningful consultation on the detail, with input from survivors and their representatives. Back in May 2023, the then Conservative Government said it would consult on establishing a redress scheme for survivors trying to rebuild their lives. The new Labour Government must pick this up without further delay.

While no redress scheme is perfect, it is important that survivors have the option of using a scheme if they simply cannot face pursuing a stressful civil claim through the courts.

It would be wrong for the taxpayer to pick up the full cost of the scheme when many of the institutional defendants, such as religious organisations, are wealthy and powerful with insurance to cover claims. 

If a redress scheme were to be funded by the public purse, there would be immense pressure to keep damages low. The scheme must at least be partly funded by the insurance industry by way of a compulsory, not a voluntary, contribution.

Another recommendation to come out of the inquiry was to abolish the three-year time limitation on pursuing non-recent sexual abuse cases in England and Wales. It is the only fair and ethical conclusion.

It can take abuse victims many years before they come forward for a multitude of reasons, including shame and the fear of not being believed, as well as the fact that the abuse itself has a silencing effect. But for survivors of childhood abuse in England and Wales, the limitation clock starts ticking for three years from when they turn 18 years old.

Abolishing the time bar would bring England and Wales in line with Scotland, where the limitation period was lifted in 2017 in recognition that abuse survivors are a unique category of injured person, and bring their claims for redress late for valid reasons.

We await the outcome of the consultation on this change, which closed in July 2024. But the time for consultation is over and the time for action is overdue.

The opportunity to help some of the most vulnerable people in society as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives after suffering abhorrent abuse must not be missed.