Empty Promises, Hidden Processes

Three months after Casey's review, survivors are still shut out. No clarity. No consultation. No justice.

Fighting on Two Fronts: Still No Answers, Still Behind Closed Doors

For more than a decade, I have fought to expose the truth about how children have been failed by those meant to protect them. I left Greater Manchester Police in 2012 because I could no longer be complicit in the deliberate neglect of vulnerable children who were being raped and brutalised while institutions looked the other way. Since then, I have dedicated my life to giving those children and survivors a voice.

But here we are, in 2025, and nothing feels different. Baroness Casey’s review confirmed what survivors, campaigners and whistleblowers like me have been shouting for years – that children have been failed on an industrial scale, and that progress remains painfully slow. The Government’s response was to announce a statutory inquiry. On the surface, that sounded positive. But scratch beneath the surface and the reality is clear: three months on, survivors still have no information about how this inquiry will work. Everything remains behind closed doors.

The letter we received from Jess Phillips MP, on behalf of the Government, was filled with warm phrases and empty words. It offered nothing concrete. No detail. No timetable. No guarantees. It is insulting – to me, to The Maggie Oliver Foundation, and to the survivors we support.

Why We Are Fighting This

We are a small national charity, but we are determined to hold this Government to account because the stakes could not be higher. Survivors cannot afford another whitewash like the IICSA Organised Networks strand in 2020, where non-institutional voices were ignored, survivors were silenced, and institutions lied to protect themselves.

That is why we at The Maggie Oliver Foundation  are fighting on two fronts:

The Statutory Inquiry

• Three months after Casey’s review, there is still no clarity.
• We at TMOF have not been consulted in any way.
• Nor has a single one of our umbrella group of 25 survivors (and growing).
• Every survivor in that group, as well as TMOF and myself, seeks Core Participant status so their voices are central to this process.
• Instead, the Government appears to be cherry-picking whose voices are heard – often favouring stakeholder groups reliant on government, police, or council funding, who cannot speak freely for fear of losing financial support. That is not independence. That is not justice.
• Jess Phillips’ letter contained no substance: just recycled lines about “victims at the heart” with no explanation of what that actually means.

The Judicial Review

• At the same time, thanks to the generosity of two donors, we are pursuing a Judicial Review to force the Government to implement the 20 recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
• We are not sharing all of the legal correspondence regarding the JR at this time, as the case now sits with a judge. It has taken almost eight months to get to this stage, and we await a decision.
• The Government are fighting against this. They have stated openly that they have no obligation at all to implement the 20 IICSA recommendations.
• We are challenging this legally because it is unacceptable. Survivors gave their evidence at huge personal cost because they believed it would bring change. Three years later, not one of those recommendations has been implemented.
• Without reforms on mandatory reporting, victim support, offender ethnicity recording, and institutional accountability, nothing will change.

The Truth Right Now

Let me be absolutely clear:

• Three months after Casey’s review, we are still no clearer on what this statutory inquiry will look like.
• Neither The Maggie Oliver Foundation, nor myself, nor a single survivor in our umbrella group has been consulted.
• Every one of those survivors wants their voice heard, and every one of them seeks Core Participant status, just as I do.
• The Government’s response so far has been insulting: vague reassurances, hidden processes, and no detail.
• We are witnessing a repeat of IICSA, where institutions dominated and survivors were silenced.
• This is unacceptable, and we will not allow it to happen again

Why This Matters for the Nation

The actions we are taking – demanding transparency in the statutory inquiry and challenging the Government in court through Judicial Review – are not small matters. They are nationally important. They will determine how this country responds to the rape and exploitation of children by gangs of men.

The Maggie Oliver Foundation may be small, but we are fearless. We have the trust of survivors, the truth of their lived experiences, and the courage to speak when others stay silent. That is why we will continue to fight.

Conclusion: The Time is Now

Jess Phillips’ letter, with its lack of substance, exposes a painful truth: survivors still cannot trust this Government. Three months on, there is still no clarity, no openness, and no evidence that survivors’ voices will be central. That is shocking and unacceptable.

At The Maggie Oliver Foundation, we will not stop. We are fighting fiercely on two fronts – through the courts, and through the statutory inquiry – because nothing less will do. Survivors have already waited too long.

The time for truth, justice, and change is not tomorrow, not next year, but right now.

👉 Click here to read the three letters in full: