An internal audit of South Yorkshire Police’s Child Sexual Exploitation unit, obtained by Exposed News following a Subject Access Request and corroborated by a serving detective who spoke on condition of anonymity, reveals that 412 referrals made to the unit between January 2022 and December 2024 remained unassigned to an investigating officer for periods exceeding three years.
The audit, dated March 2025, describes the backlog as “operationally critical” and notes that in 67 cases the potential victim had turned 18 before any investigator made initial contact — meaning the case was reclassified as an adult safeguarding matter rather than a child protection investigation, with materially different legal thresholds applying.
Structural Causes Identified
The audit identifies three primary causes: a 23% reduction in dedicated CSE investigator posts between 2021 and 2024 following a force-wide restructuring; a failure to backfill posts vacated through retirement; and an internal triage policy that categorised referrals originating from social services as lower priority than those originating from direct disclosures by victims.
The triage policy is particularly significant given the history of child sexual exploitation in South Yorkshire. The Jay Report of 2014 found that approximately 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham alone, with police and council failures compounding the harm. South Yorkshire Police subsequently committed to treating all CSE referrals as high priority.
Force Response
South Yorkshire Police confirmed the audit existed but declined to release it in full, citing “operational sensitivity.” A spokesperson said the force had “significantly strengthened” its CSE capability since 2025 and that all referrals now received initial assessment within 28 days. The spokesperson did not address the 412 cases identified in the audit or confirm how many had ultimately been investigated.
The Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire, Alan Billings, told Exposed News he had commissioned an independent review of the CSE unit’s resourcing following the audit, and expected to publish findings in early 2027.
National Inquiry Context
The disclosure arrives as the government’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse enters its reporting phase. Inquiry chair Professor Alexis Jay is expected to make specific recommendations on police resourcing for CSE units in her final report. Survivors’ groups have called for statutory minimum staffing levels to be imposed on all 43 constabularies.