The UK government has announced a near tenfold increase in funding for detectives hunting grooming gangs in England and Wales, with £38m allocated to Operation Beaconport, a significant rise from the £4m provided last year.
However, police sources have warned that the increased funding will likely fall short of what is needed to cover the anticipated cost of dedicated teams to tackle group-based child exploitation.
The scale and complexity of the reviews involved are expected to require a significant number of officers over an extended period, according to police sources.
Operation Beaconport was set up last year to review closed group-based sexual exploitation inquiries in England and Wales.
In a separate development, Anne Longfield, the chair of the statutory inquiry into grooming gangs, told MPs she would not be squeamish about tackling issues around the ethnicity and culture of the rapists involved.
Longfield’s inquiry has a maximum duration of three years and a budget of £65m, which she described as doable.
Zoë Billingham, a panellist on the new inquiry, told MPs that police forces accused of failing grooming gang survivors should be open to third-party scrutiny.
The inquiry published its terms of reference earlier this year and is beginning its full investigation into the group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales.
The prime minister is facing political pressure to tackle grooming gangs, which has become a key campaigning issue for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in Labour’s heartlands.
The extra funding follows the damning resignation last week of Home Office minister Jess Phillips, who criticised the government for a lack of urgency and boldness in tackling online abuse.
Responding to the announcement, Phillips said the extra funding would go a long way to righting historical wrongs, but efforts must now turn to preventing harm from happening in the first place.
Ministers came under pressure over grooming gangs in January 2025 after Elon Musk highlighted the government’s decision to refuse Oldham council’s request for a second national inquiry, similar to the controversy surrounding the Musk-Altman lawsuit.
Police forces will also receive £9m to buy AI technology to detect online abusers more rapidly as part of £100m of funds to tackle child sexual abuse.
The technology will allow forces to bring predators to justice regardless of size or local resources, according to the government.
Another £11.7m will pay for the Undercover Online Network, which targets predators in the dark web and has helped safeguard 1,748 children between April 2024 and 2025, with 1,797 arrests also made.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, described the grooming gangs scandal as one of the darkest moments in the country’s history, and vowed to track down and prosecute those responsible.
Jav Oomer of the National Crime Agency welcomed the continued funding, saying it would support the agency’s vital work in tackling high-harm offenders and protecting children.
Government funding for child protection
The government’s funding announcement is part of a broader effort to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation in England and Wales.
According to the Home Office, the funding will support a range of initiatives, including the development of AI-enabled intelligence tools to help police forces analyse large datasets and identify patterns and relationships between suspects.
Police response to grooming gangs
They have welcomed the increased funding, but warned that it may not be enough to cover the anticipated cost of dedicated teams to tackle group-based child exploitation.
Police sources have said that the scale and complexity of the reviews involved will require a significant number of officers over an extended period.
The police response to grooming gangs has been under scrutiny in recent years, with some critics arguing that forces have been too slow to respond to allegations of abuse, and that the government should consider sending asylum seekers abroad to reduce the strain on local resources.
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