Grooming Gangs Inquiry: Jayne Senior MBE - 'Another opportunity to seek the truth and fight for answers'

Jayne Senior MBE – the whistle-blower who helped to expose the child sexual exploitation scandal in Rotherham - believes the national Grooming Gangs Inquiry could be another opportunity to “fight for answers for victims and survivors.”

Ms Senior has been awarded the status of 'Core Participant' status in 'accountability’ hearings recently announced by the national Grooming Gangs Inquiry.

She managed the council youth project Risky Business in Rotherham from 1999 to 2011, and was amongst those who helped to blow the lid off the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.

A report into the scandal from Professor Alexis Jay, published in 2014, revealed how an estimated 1,400 children in the town were abused by grooming gangs - and were ignored by those who should have protected them.

Jayne Senior told the Advertiser: “This is an important moment for me, both personally and professionally, but more importantly, it represents another opportunity to seek the truth, challenge those in positions of authority and fight for answers for the hundreds of victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation, and their families, who were so dismally failed in Rotherham.

“For decades, I have witnessed first-hand the devastating consequences of children not being listened to, of professionals failing to act, and of statutory organisations appearing more concerned with protecting their reputations than protecting vulnerable children.

“As a whistle-blower, I also know first-hand what happens when you challenge those organisations.

“I experienced the investigations, professional isolation and personal consequences that can follow when you refuse to remain silent.

“I know what it feels like when the very organisations responsible for safeguarding children turn their attention towards those trying to expose the failures.

During the “accountability hearings” in the Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, which were announced yesterday (October 22) organisations and institutions will be asked to explain what steps they took to protect children from sexual exploitation “what progress was made, and why recommendations did not deliver the improvements that were promised.”

The hearings will build on Baroness Louise Casey's 2025 National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and examine why “lessons identified through previous inquiries, reviews, inspections and investigations too often failed to result in meaningful change.”

Ms Senior continued: “It is now 12 years since Professor Alexis Jay published her independent report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham in 2014.

“Twelve years later, in 2026, not one professional has been held personally accountable for the institutional failures that allowed so many children to be abused.

“That is something I find utterly unacceptable.

“We have had reports, reviews, investigations, apologies and promises that lessons would be learned.

“Yet the fundamental questions remain: Who knew what was happening? Why were repeated warnings ignored? Why were children left at risk? Why were those raising concerns challenged rather than listened to? And why, after all these years, has there been so little meaningful accountability?

“The victims and survivors of Rotherham deserve far more than another report gathering dust on a shelf.

“They deserve honesty, transparency, accountability and, above all, answers.”

The opening phases are set to take place in London during the weeks of December 14, 2026 and January 11, 2027 and will focus on the experiences and perspectives of victims and survivors, with further hearings planned for March and April 2027.

The Inquiry also published the list of Core Participants for the hearings, which includes a number of victims and survivors and groups supporting them who “played, or may have played, a direct and significant role in relation to the matters to which the inquiry relates.”

Ms Senior, who is the CEO at Swinton Lock Activity Centre, added: “My Core Participant status now provides an opportunity for me to speak openly and honestly about what I witnessed, what I reported, the evidence I hold and the treatment I experienced when I challenged those responsible.

“I intend to use that opportunity to the very best of my ability.

“I will not shy away from asking difficult questions, challenging decisions or seeking to hold individuals and organisations to account, regardless of their position or seniority.

“I recognise that this Inquiry cannot undo the harm suffered by so many children, nor can it give back the childhoods that were stolen from them.

“However, it can provide an opportunity to establish the truth, expose the full extent of the failures and ensure that those responsible are properly scrutinised.

“I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary courage of the victims and survivors who have continued to speak out, often at enormous personal cost.

“Many have spent years fighting to be believed, to access justice and to rebuild their lives. Their determination is the reason this work must continue.

“I have never regretted speaking out about what happened in Rotherham, despite the personal and professional consequences.

“My only regret is that, despite everything we knew, so many children continued to be failed.

“I am entering this Inquiry with determination, an extensive body of evidence and a commitment to doing everything within my power to ensure that the voices of victims, survivors and their families are heard.

“Twelve years after the Jay Report, it is no longer enough for organisations to simply acknowledge that mistakes were made.”