Grooming gangs inquiry expands to Birmingham and Wales, survivors respond

The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs in England and Wales announced today that its next phase will include targeted investigations in Birmingham and across Wales, adding to the areas already under review in Oldham, Bradford, Keighley and London. The inquiry will examine how grooming gangs abused children in those regions and how the bodies responsible for safeguarding responded.

The inquiry was set up by former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June 2025 and began work in April of this year after a turbulent start that saw survivors demand the resignation of former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips. It was created to uncover systemic failures and to hold institutions to account, with local investigations chosen on the basis of how victims were treated, whether warnings were ignored and if opportunities to prevent harm were missed. Earlier this year the inquiry launched its first round of local probes, focusing on the north‑west and Yorkshire towns where high‑profile grooming cases had emerged.

Survivors have welcomed the expansion but warned that breadth should not sacrifice depth. Fiona Goddard, abused as a child in Bradford, said evidence from Birmingham and Wales “needs to be properly heard” but cautioned that the inquiry must not become a shallow national sweep. A survivor from Huddersfield, who asked to be called Carly, expressed doubt that a “huge and complex” Wales investigation could deliver a “deep dive”, fearing that individual stories might be diluted. Welsh victim Emily Vaughan, speaking on condition of anonymity, welcomed the move as “a day that has been needed for a very long time”, stressing that institutions can no longer brush aside their failures.

The next step will be a series of local fact‑finding hearings in Birmingham and Welsh jurisdictions, where the inquiry, chaired by former children’s commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield, can compel officials and organisations to explain what they did or failed to do. The inquiry’s powers include issuing subpoenas and demanding documents, tools it hopes will uncover missed opportunities to protect children. While it remains unclear whether further locations will be added, the expansion signals a broader commitment to hold every corner of the UK accountable for the abuse and to give survivors a platform for their stories to be heard in full.