Teachers given exemption from having to report teenage sexual relationships beneath ‘Romeo and Juliet’ clause | EUROtoday

Reporting sexually lively youngsters to the police is not going to all the time be obligatory by regulation beneath a brand new crackdown on little one abuse after MPs backed a “Romeo and Juliet” exemption.

Under the brand new Crime and Policing Bill, lecturers and different adults who work with youngsters will face sanctions in the event that they fail to report suspicions of kid sexual abuse.

The new regulation, geared toward defending minors, was drafted within the wake of kid grooming scandals.

But MPs have determined lecturers ought to be given leeway to make use of their very own judgement and won’t be obliged to report back to authorities consenting underage sexual relationships.

The age of sexual consent within the UK is 16 and, not like in international locations akin to Australia, there isn’t any exemption for sexual exercise between under-18s, even when the 2 are in a consensual relationship.

Minister for safeguarding Jess Phillips instructed MPs on the committee stage of the Bill: “Consensual relationships between young people should not be considered child sexual abuse in the absence of coercion or significant differences in age or maturity.”

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She mentioned she didn’t wish to deter younger folks from being open about their relationships and accessing companies.

“This avoids situations such as two kissing teenagers having to be reported to the authorities by a teacher who knows them both well,” she mentioned.

Conservative Harriet Cross instructed MPs the exemption “recognises that not all sexual activity involving under-18s is a cause for alarm or state intervention”.

“The bar for not reporting should be high,” she mentioned. “As a safeguard, the clause explicitly says to consider the risk of harm. If there is any indication of harm or imbalance, the duty to report remains.

“For example, if a 14-year-old girl is sexually involved with a 17-year-old boy, even if she says she has consented, a teacher or adult might rightly feel uneasy about the power dynamic and the possible impact of grooming. The adult might decide that it is appropriate to report in that case.”

Cross mentioned the exemption was “not about condoning underage sex; it is about proportionality”.

To be exempt from necessary reporting, lecturers and different professionals might want to make certain that the youngsters are each over 13 and there are not any considerations about abuse or coercion.

Last week, it was introduced {that a} new little one safety authority can be created to handle one of many central suggestions of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse led by Professor Alexis Jay.

The seven-year probe, which discovered institutional failings and tens of 1000’s of victims, made 20 suggestions within the ultimate report in 2022, describing little one sexual abuse as an “epidemic” in England and Wales.