The government has announced plans for a new advisory panel intended to give adult victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation a more direct role in shaping policy and support in England and Wales.
The Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Victim and Survivor Advisory Panel is expected to be established independently within the Office of the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales. Its purpose is to create a structured route for people with lived experience to offer insight, raise concerns and make recommendations on matters affecting survivors.
The announcement does not mean the panel has begun work. Recruitment is due to open later this year through a public process described as fair, transparent and trauma-informed. The panel is expected to start in spring 2027, so the details of its membership and early programme are still to be published.
How the proposed panel would work
The planned model combines a core group of members with wider ways for other victims and survivors to contribute. That approach recognises that no small group can represent every experience of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The panel is intended to draw on a broad range of perspectives when it considers how policies, services and professional practice affect people who have been harmed.
Its remit is expected to cover all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The panel’s role will be advisory: members will be able to provide advice, insight and recommendations directly to government, and to challenge decision-makers. It is not being presented as a substitute for specialist services or as a body that decides individual cases.
Locating the panel with the Victims’ Commissioner is intended to give members a degree of independence when sharing their views with government and public bodies. The Office of the Victims’ Commissioner will lead recruitment, support members’ participation and facilitate regular engagement between the panel and those responsible for policy.
Funding and participation safeguards
Up to £1 million has been allocated over three years for the panel. The funding is intended to support participation that is safe, sustainable and trauma-informed, including dedicated staff, training, specialist support and payment for members’ time and expertise.
Those safeguards are significant because taking part in policy discussions about childhood abuse can be demanding. The proposed structure has been developed with victims and survivors, specialist organisations, experts in trauma-informed practice and partners beyond the UK. It also builds on lessons from earlier survivor-participation work connected to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Recruitment is expected to seek adults with a range of experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. A wider network of survivor groups and specialist organisations is also expected to feed into the panel’s work. The aim is to avoid treating one group’s experience as a complete account of a complex national issue.
What happens next
The immediate next step is the publication of recruitment information, including eligibility and application arrangements. Once members are in place, the value of the panel will depend on whether it can work independently, whether participants receive appropriate support and how clearly public bodies respond to its recommendations.
The announcement commits the government to ensuring that the panel’s advice meaningfully informs policies, services and outcomes. That is an ambition for the new body, not a measure of change already achieved. For now, the development is the creation of a funded route through which adult survivors can help shape the decisions made about prevention, support and the public response to child sexual abuse and exploitation.
