UK Grooming Gangs Inquiry Will Scrutinize How Institutions Failed to Protect Girls

The inquiry’s chair, Anne Longfield, said their task was ’to find out why this catastrophic failure of the state happened and continues to happen.’

A teenage girl, a victim of sexual abuse, in Rotherham, England, on Sept. 3, 2014. Christopher Furlong /Getty Images

A public inquiry in Britain into the grooming gangs scandal—which saw thousands of mainly white girls abused for years by men who were often of Pakistani heritage—has announced plans to call to account individuals and institutions who may have failed to protect the victims.

The Independent Inquiry Into Grooming Gangs was set up in June 2025 on the orders of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after he came under pressure from opposition lawmakers and from figures such as Elon Musk.