NSPCC Cymru/Wales response after UK Government announces plans to extend Positions of Trust law to sports coaches and faith leaders

Please find a statement in response to the UK Government’s embargoed announcement of its plans to extend the Positions of Trust law to sports coaches and faith leaders. It will make it illegal for sports coaches and faith leaders to have sex with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care and follows a prolonged campaign from the NSPCC. The Ministry of Justice has announced that the Positions of Trust law, which currently applies to roles like teachers and social workers, will be extended as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to be unveiled in Parliament (March 9).

This is a landmark step for the protection of young people by the NSPCC, which has campaigned for this as part of its Close the Loophole campaign. The NSPCC began campaigning to extend the law in 2017 after the football abuse scandal in 2016 highlighted how adults utilised their positions of authority in sports settings to abuse children. The campaign gained widespread political and public support to extend the legal protection for 16 and 17-year-olds to prevent them being targeted by adults with power and influence over them.

Laura Whapham, Child Protection in Sport Senior Consultant for NSPCC Cymru/Wales says: “It has been a long time coming, but following tireless NSPCC campaigning we are thrilled that the UK Government has listened to our calls and is finally agreeing to close this legal loophole.

“It is a huge breakthrough that will mean better protection for young people in Wales who will now be at less risk of being groomed by adults they trust during extracurricular activities.

“As well as this landmark legal change, which we will follow closely, we want to see Welsh Government make a commitment to a renewed and comprehensive Welsh Action Plan in the next Senedd term to help prevent child sexual abuse and further protect and support children and young people.”

An NSPCC Freedom of Information request to all local authority children’s services in England and Wales in 2019 found that there were 653 complaints about adults having sex with 16 and 17 year olds in their care who were not already covered by the criminal law between 2014 and 2018. Over the same period police in England and Wales recorded 1,025 offences of Abuse of Position of Trust of a Sexual Nature.

NSPCC Cymru/Wales calls of Welsh Government around a renewed Welsh Action Plan can be read in full in our manifesto here and in Welsh here.