High Court allows Maggie Oliver’s legal challenge against the government to proceed
The High Court has granted permission for Maggie Oliver and the The Maggie Oliver Foundation to proceed with a judicial review against the UK Government over its failure to implement key reforms recommended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
The decision marks a significant procedural victory for the charity and for survivors of abuse. By granting permission, the High Court has determined that the claim raises serious legal questions that merit a full hearing. The case will now proceed to a substantive judicial review in which the Government will be required to explain its failure to implement the inquiry’s recommendations.
In granting permission, the court recognised that successive governments had repeatedly committed themselves to implementing the twenty recommendations contained in the inquiry’s final report. The judge concluded that these assurances created what the law terms a “legitimate expectation” that the reforms would be delivered. The court therefore accepted that the Government may need to justify why substantial elements of the inquiry’s programme remain unimplemented nearly four years after the report’s publication.
One issue highlighted in the judgment concerns the continued use of pain-inducing restraint techniques on children in custody, a practice criticised by the inquiry as potentially “amounting to torture.” The court noted that the Government had not adequately explained why this practice remains permitted despite the inquiry’s recommendation that it be abolished.
The inquiry itself—chaired by Alexis Jay—ran for seven years, cost approximately £200 million, and examined systemic failures by institutions to protect children from abuse. Its final report in 2022 proposed sweeping reforms to safeguarding law and policy across England and Wales.
Following the court’s decision, Oliver described the ruling as a landmark moment for survivors and for the protection of children. She said the judgment affirmed that promises made to victims cannot simply be abandoned once public attention fades.
“Today is a historic day, not just for the Foundation, but for every survivor who has testified, waited and hoped,” Oliver said. “When governments make promises to act and then walk away, children pay the price. Today the court has said those promises matter.”
The forthcoming hearing will determine whether the Government’s delay in implementing the inquiry’s recommendations is lawful and whether further action must now be taken to deliver the reforms promised in the wake of one of the largest safeguarding investigations in British history.
¹ Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report, October 2022, recommending twenty reforms to strengthen safeguarding in England and Wales.
² Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Investigation Report: Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks, 2022.
³ UK Government, The Government Response to the Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Home Office, January 2023.
⁴ Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Investigation Report: Children in Custodial Institutions, 2019, which criticised restraint techniques used on children in youth custody.
⁵ Alexis Jay et al., The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, HC 720, UK Parliament, October 2022.
⁶ UK Home Office, “Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: Government Response and Implementation Plan,” GOV.UK, 2023.
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