Rape Gang Inquiry Claims Grooming Gangs Operated in 149 UK Local Authority Areas

An independent report into group-based child sexual exploitation has claimed that organised grooming networks operated in at least 149 local authority areas across the United Kingdom, raising fresh questions about the true scale of the abuse and whether it was treated for too long as a series of isolated scandals rather than a national problem.

The findings were published by the non-statutory Rape Gang Inquiry, a separate initiative established by campaigners and parliamentarians. Its executive summary argues that organised abuse networks operated across a far wider geographical area than previously acknowledged, with victims allegedly trafficked between towns and cities over several decades.

The report's authors contend that public attention has often focused on a handful of high-profile cases in places such as Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford, while failing to recognise what they describe as a much broader pattern of offending across the country.

Why the Inquiry Says the Problem Was National

According to the report, evidence gathered from court records, witness testimonies and previous investigations suggests organised exploitation occurred in at least 149 local authority districts.

The inquiry argues that offenders frequently operated across local authority boundaries, moving victims between different towns and cities and exploiting weaknesses in communication between police forces, social services and other agencies.

Its authors claim this allowed abuse networks to avoid detection for extended periods and contributed to repeated safeguarding failures. The report describes grooming gangs as a national issue rather than a collection of disconnected local scandals.

However, the figure of 149 local authority areas has not been independently verified by the government's ongoing statutory inquiry, which is continuing to gather evidence using its formal investigative powers.

The Debate Over Offender Demographics

One of the most politically sensitive aspects of the report concerns offender demographics.

The inquiry argues that many offenders convicted in prominent group-based child exploitation cases were of Pakistani Muslim heritage and claims concerns about race and community relations discouraged authorities from confronting the issue directly.

Questions surrounding ethnicity were also examined by Louise Casey in her 2025 national audit. While Casey found evidence of disproportionate representation among suspects in some local datasets, she concluded that national data collection was too inconsistent to support firm conclusions about offender ethnicity at a national level.

In response, the government announced plans to make the recording of ethnicity and nationality data mandatory in child sexual exploitation cases. Ministers said improved data collection would help authorities better understand offending patterns while avoiding assumptions not supported by evidence.

What the Statutory Inquiry Will Examine

The publication comes as the government's statutory inquiry into grooming gangs begins examining many of the same issues highlighted in the independent report.

Unlike the non-statutory inquiry, the official investigation has legal powers to compel witness testimony and require the disclosure of evidence. It was established following recommendations made by Baroness Casey and is expected to examine both historic safeguarding failures and current child protection practices.

The independent report also highlights alleged failures across policing, social care, education and local licensing authorities, arguing that opportunities to identify and protect vulnerable children were repeatedly missed.

While campaigners, survivors and policymakers remain divided over some of the report's conclusions, there is broader agreement that serious safeguarding failures occurred in multiple parts of the country. The government's inquiry is now expected to test many of the claims made in the report, including whether organised exploitation was as widespread as its authors contend.