A report investigating policing practices during the Rotherham grooming gang scandal has found that “many instances” of reported child sex crimes have gone unrecorded by police officers.

The UK’s Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a list of recommendations on Tuesday which noted that numerous instances of child sexual exploitation (CSE) were still not being correctly recorded by South Yorkshire Police in the grooming gang hotspot of Rotherham.

The IOPC compiled recommendations for policing both in South Yorkshire and the rest of the country after examining findings from Operation Linden, an investigation into 265 separate allegations made against South Yorkshire police from 1997 to 2013 relating to child sexual abuse in the Rotherham area.

“We found many instances where crimes were not recorded when they should have been, including reports of sexual assault or sexual activity with a child,” the report stated.

“In particular, inspectors found significant under-recording of crimes committed against vulnerable children,” the document continued.

Responding to the IOPC report, local MP Sarah Champion said that while she welcomed the recommendations, she was “troubled that the report found that crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department were not always being recorded.”

“It is crucial that all reports of possible CSE are recorded, even where it does not prove possible to pursue further action. Without accurate records, warning signs can be missed, and victims left vulnerable to further exploitation. South Yorkshire Police must rectify this as a matter of urgency,” Champion continued.

The report also raised alarm over the fact that many victims of child sex abuse in Rotherham now had criminal records as a result of the abuse they suffered. The criminal records stem mainly from so-called “survival crimes” perpetrated by a victim against a perpetrator or associate, as well as crimes that arose out of the victim acting out in reaction to their abuse and or suffering.

The document goes on to state that while some improvements have occurred since a 2014 report found that there were shortcomings concerning third party reporting of “crimes involving vulnerable adults and children reported directly to South Yorkshire Police’s public protection department”

Yet, the IOPC admitted that a 2020 audit of the police force “found there had been no discernible improvement to this.”

Labour MP Sarah Champion said that she found it “deeply concerning that the report suggests that improvements made following inspections of South Yorkshire Police in 2014 may have stalled, or even deteriorated in some areas.”

It is also perhaps noteworthy that the IOPC made little mention of race, ethnicity, or religion. The absence from the report comes despite other reviews finding that police ignored abuse in Rotherham for years out of fear of sparking “racial tensions”.

Around 1,400 non-muslim girls and women — most of whom were white and working-class — were groomed and raped in Rotherham, mainly by Muslim men of Pakistani origin.

Detective-turned-whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who now runs a charity devoted to helping victims of grooming gangs, has warned that the scourge of rape gangs has extended throughout the country, saying that the sexual abuse of children is “going on everywhere“.

“What we’re finding in the foundation is that the worst cases that we are aware of are [in] West Yorkshire and in [Greater Manchester],” Oliver said in July.