Council proposes paying out £100m to victims of abuse at Shirley Oaks children's home

Campaigner Lucia Hinton, Lib Peck of Lambeth Council, survivors association chairman Raymond Stevenson, former resident Shayne Donnelly, MP for West Norwood Helen Hayes and MP for Streatham Chukka Umnna at an unveiling of a report into the abuse
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Pippa Crerar8 December 2017

The town hall at the heart of one of the capital’s worst child abuse scandals today proposed paying out more than £100 million to survivors.

Lambeth council set out detailed plans for its redress scheme for victims of historical sexual, physical and psychological abuse at its former children’s homes. It means that hundreds of people who grew up in its care at Shirley Oaks and other homes could be entitled to at least £10,000 each.

Paedophiles, including staff and visitors, preyed on children on an “industrial” scale at the borough’s flagship home in Croydon over three decades.

Lib Peck, leader of Lambeth, said survivors had been “very badly let down” in the past and had waited too long for redress. Many were now elderly.

“Terrible abuse occurred at Lambeth children’s homes prior to their closure in the Eighties and Nineties and for many the trauma suffered by survivors lives on to this day,” she said.

“As the current leader of Lambeth council I make a full and genuine apology for the abuse people suffered due to historic failings in the care system.

Shirley Oaks Survivors Association chairman Raymond Stevenson
PA

“We’ve taken the decision not to be like past administrations and instead to address the issues from a very dark period of Lambeth’s history.”

The scheme is intended to provide “swift and compassionate” redress while making sure compensation for survivors is not swallowed up by lawyers’ fees. Lambeth will cover legal costs.

The borough will pay compensation to every former resident as they were all felt to be at risk, with victims of abuse receiving more.

An explosive report by the survivors’ association last year uncovered widespread abuse of at least 700 children over a 30-year period at the home.

It included harrowing testimony from 40 people abused by a paedophile ring including council staff, police officers, teachers and police.

Lambeth is the first council in the country to have developed this type of scheme. Others could now follow suit. It persuaded the Government to let it borrow the money so it does not have to increase council tax to pay for it.

Raymond Stevenson, a former resident of the care home and Shirley Oaks Survivors Association spokesman, said: “This has never been about the money, it is about justice. And we don’t have any faith in Lambeth council to administer the compensation fairly. It needs to be an independent team.

“Lambeth is asking people to believe in a system that has failed them repeatedly. It can’t be right for the council to be overseeing the redress. Nowhere else has this happened. We don’t believe in the legitimacy of the scheme.”

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