Oldham: Police and social workers raise concerns over child sexual abuse

One victim says she believes young people are not being protected (photograph used for illustration only)

Police officers and social workers have raised concerns that more than 500 children were being sexually abused in a town last year.

Referrals made by Greater Manchester Police and Oldham's social services rose by 580% in eight years, a Freedom Of Information request has revealed.

The council said the rise reflected a more "sophisticated" understanding of child sexual exploitation.

But a sexual assault survivor said she believed children were being failed.

The woman, who was raped as a child by five men in Oldham in 2006, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she believed young people were not being protected.

Her case was investigated as part of a review published last June looking at Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) handling of a number of child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases in the early to mid-2000s.

"They're trying to say those figures were low because a lot of those children who were vulnerable weren't recognised in the first place," the woman, who was identified as Sophie in the review, said.

"The issue with that is that they haven't learnt anything because those numbers are still increasing.

"All these safeguarding referrals wouldn't be made if there was safeguarding in these schools, if they had learnt from the mistakes of how it was happening."

She said she believed children as young as four or five should be taught about grooming, and told "how they speak to you, how they try and persuade you, buy you stuff".

"They are having more kids coming through those doors because they are not being protected beforehand," she added.

"So nothing's been learnt, nothing's been changed to protect kids in our schools."

Oldham's Director of Children's Services, Gerard Jones, said he did not believe there was evidence of "mass" grooming gangs operating in Oldham.

Rather, he said the numbers reflected a rising awareness of different forms of abuse, and more reporting by residents and professionals.

Referrals relating to sexual abuse in Oldham soared to 522 last year

Oldham Council confirmed that the total referrals made relating to sexual abuse against young people under the age of 16 stood at 76 for the year 2014 and this had since soared to 522 in 2022.

While figures fluctuated across the eight years in which data was available, they rose substantially in 2021 and to the highest point on record last year.

The majority of 2022 referrals, 251, came through social services, compared to 189 concerns lodged by GMP.

Mr Jones said the local authority was "not aware of any mass grooming" but was "constantly vigilant".

"We're aware of the risks that happen to young people in our community through online exploitation and through the different forms of exploitation and the relationships between them."

He added: "My position is not complacent, I'm determined to do even better than we are at the moment and do everything we can to keep children safe."

GMP has a specialist unit dedicated to investigating child sexual exploitation (CSE)

GMP recently launched Operation Sherwood in Oldham to investigate non-recent cases and set up a new CSE unit, made up of 106 officers, in the town.

A force representative said specialist detectives and social workers worked together on a Complex Safeguarding team to support children at risk.

"GMP supports victims through the referral process and remains driven to obtain positive outcomes for tackling offenders," they added.