Statement

Lambeth Children’s Homes Redress Scheme

  • Both the current Lambeth Council administration and the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association deserve a huge amount of credit.

  • Chuka Umunna MP and Helen Hayes MP

We are pleased to see this redress scheme is moving forward. Both the current Lambeth Council administration and the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association deserve a huge amount of credit. We are very pleased that Councillor Lib Peck, the leader of Lambeth Council has apologised on behalf of the Council, which has accepted liability for all that happened.

This Lambeth council administration have worked hard to secure government approval for £100m of funding for the scheme, the first of its kind in the country. We understand that other local authorities are looking to follow the same model.

We know survivors have concerns around the lack of an independent body for Lambeth’s proposed redress scheme. However, we appreciate that Lambeth Council worked hard to create a scheme which is as accessible as possible and is designed to ensure that the funds which are available go directly to survivors as quickly as possible.

Anyone who had to endure time at Shirley Oaks will understandably find it very difficult to trust the Council. It is important that the Council puts in place processes for administering the redress scheme which survivors can work with, so we welcome the Council’s commitment to fund independent legal representation and establish a multi-disciplinary independent panel to consider all appeals.

In addition to the redress scheme and the Council’s apology, it is also vitally important that wherever possible perpetrators of the appalling abuse that occurred at Shirley Oaks and other Council-run children’s homes continue to be brought to justice.