Greater Manchester Police better on grooming gangs as more than 1,000 suspects under investigation
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) reviewed Greater Manchester Police 's (GMP) current and ongoing approach to investigating child sexual and criminal exploitation.
The report said the force have live investigations into 'multi-victim, multi-offender' child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
Although GMP has made "significant improvements" to how it investigates child sexual exploitation (CSE), it still needs to address training shortfalls among investigators, the police inspectorate found.
It also pointed to issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to 'significant delays in investigations' into grooming gangs.
It cites problems with intelligence provided by Manchester City Council, which took months to arrive and 'was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words,' the report said.
The new inspection report, released on Thursday 3 July, looked at how the force, and its safeguarding partners, responded to 74 individuals identified as likely victims of non-recent child sexual exploitation.
The inspectorate found that the force has good strategic and operational leadership and governance arrangements in place for investigations.
However, new findings revealed more than a tenth of the staff (13 out of the 98) in CSE Major Incident Team (CSE MIT), 'are not trained to the level required to do their job'.
The creation of a dedicated CSE MIT, consisting of 98 investigators, was praised as a major step forward in addressing historic failings. The team focuses on non-recent cases and has been central to rebuilding trust with victims and improving investigation quality.
Inspectors said that the force is aware of various training gaps in the investigation team and that it needs to put an updated training plan in place to make sure personnel have the necessary skills for their roles.
Michelle Skeer, His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, said: 'We found that since 2019, when Greater Manchester Police started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation.
"However, there are various training gaps amongst the investigation team and the force needs to do more to address these."
The report highlighted inconsistencies in peer review practices across different sectors, including social care, health, and police. The use of varied case file audit tools also meant that information wasn't always recorded or evaluated consistently.
Inspectors also conducted an in-depth review of GMP's records relating to the 74 victims and survivors identified by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's independent review team. All the individuals are now adults, and the incidents date from between 2003 and 2013.
GMP had historical records on each of the 74 individuals before the review began. Of these, 48 had disclosed criminal offences, while 13 denied being exploited and another 13 either chose not to engage or didn't disclose any crimes.
While some individuals offered testimony in other cases, many had initially been let down by the force's response.
The report found that GMP had failed to assess some victims as vulnerable at the time, missed opportunities to investigate offences, and in some cases didn't even record the crimes. Inadequate early engagement left some victims unsupported and distrustful of police.
However, the force has since revisited every case, offering support services and the opportunity to reopen investigations.
In 60 of the 74 cases, inspectors found that effective investigations had been carried out, and in 58 of the 64 cases where support was expected, there was evidence that it had been offered.
The force's updated approach now includes a multi-agency assessment before contacting victims, ensuring that communication is more structured and trauma-informed. While not all individuals wanted further contact, investigators made clear that support remained available.
Despite progress, the inspectorate concluded that GMP cannot undo the damage caused by earlier failings.
Skeer said: 'Victims often live with the trauma of exploitation for life. Improvements must be led by their experiences. If they do come forward, they must be believed, supported, and taken seriously.'
In October 2024, the force told inspectors there were 59 live multi-victim multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, of which 13 were being managed by the CSE MIT.
In these active investigations, there were 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
The force has also recorded demographic data, such as the age, sex and ethnicity of potential victims and suspects and uses 'intelligence products' to produce 'problem profiles' to detail emerging threats and risks.
A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in 'denial' more needs to be done to understand why this is the case.
Nevertheless, so far, the CSE MIT and the earlier grooming gang investigations have resulted in 42 convictions and more than 430 years imprisonment for offenders.
Investigations are ongoing and several more trials are scheduled.
The report adds: 'The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past.
'It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation.'
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