The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs has today announced further details of its National Accountability Hearings and published the list of individuals and organisations designated as Core Participants.
The opening phases of the National Accountability Hearings will take place in London during the weeks of 14 December 2026 and 11 January 2027, with further hearings planned for March and April 2027. The opening phase of the hearings will focus on the experiences and perspectives of victims and survivors.
The National Accountability Hearings will examine why lessons identified through previous inquiries, reviews, inspections and investigations too often failed to result in meaningful change and will require organisations and institutions to explain what action they took to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse, what progress was made, and why recommendations did not deliver the improvements that were promised.
They will begin by hearing the perspectives of victims and survivors, including whether the changes promised following previous inquiries, reviews and recommendations were reflected in their experiences and whether they believe meaningful progress has been made.
This evidence will help shape the questions organisations must answer in later phases of the hearings, when the Inquiry will examine previous findings and recommendations and how organisations and senior leaders responded to them. Organisations will be required to explain what action they took following earlier findings and recommendations, who was responsible for delivery, what progress has been made and why implementation was delayed, incomplete or allowed to drift.
Following the opening National Accountability Hearings, the Inquiry will produce its first report and recommendations, focusing on the changes needed to strengthen implementation, oversight and accountability.
Evidence from the hearings will also inform other future stages of the Inquiry’s work, helping it understand why recommendations did not always lead to meaningful change and what must now happen to ensure children are not failed in the same way again.
