“We were blamed.” The words come from a Greater Manchester survivor who spoke to ITV Granada earlier this year, a reminder of how the system often turned on children instead of the adults who exploited them. Today, ministers say they’re starting to put that right.

On 4 November, the Home Office tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to disregard and pardon historic ‘child prostitution’ convictions and cautions handed to children. The move is aimed at those criminalised for loitering or soliciting while under coercion, with officials estimating it will help hundreds.

The scheme is automatic. Once the Bill receives Royal Assent and the provisions commence, qualifying records will be expunged without survivors needing to apply. Government papers confirm it covers Section 1 offences under the Street Offences Act 1959 where the person was under 18 at the time.

Home Office correspondence to peers also states that, when a conviction or caution is disregarded, it will no longer appear on a criminal records certificate - a practical shift that could finally remove barriers to work, housing and volunteering across the North.

Ministers say the step delivers on one of Baroness Louise Casey’s 12 recommendations from her rapid review into grooming gangs, published in June and accepted in full by the Government. That review also triggered a national inquiry and tougher data duties on policing - issues that matter in towns like Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford.

There’s long history to this. In 2015, Parliament removed the term “child prostitution” from law and restricted the loitering/soliciting offence to adults, recognising under‑18s as victims. Yet many survivors have carried childhood convictions ever since - a stain that today’s amendment aims to erase.

National charities have welcomed the shift. “No child should ever be criminalised for being a victim of abuse or exploitation,” said NAPAC chief executive Gabrielle Shaw, calling the change “a significant step” towards a more survivor‑centred justice system.

From a policing standpoint, Greater Manchester Police has publicly backed the Casey reforms and pledged transparency around the new statutory inquiry - a stance that will be tested as forces revisit historic cases and rebuild trust with Northern survivors.

Women’s rights lawyers also want ministers to go further. The Centre for Women’s Justice welcomed today’s plan but urged decriminalisation of loitering/soliciting and an extension of pardons to adults whose street‑based offending began as child exploitation. As CWJ’s Harriet Wistrich put it, survivors “deserve justice now.”

Campaigners note the change echoes long‑running calls under “Sammy’s Law”, led by Rotherham survivor Sammy Woodhouse, to wipe records for crimes committed under grooming. For many in South Yorkshire, today’s move is overdue recognition that children were failed twice - first by abusers, then by the state.

It’s important to be clear about scope. The automatic disregard applies to loitering or soliciting offences committed under 18; it does not overturn other convictions (for example, separate sexual offences) which follow different legal routes. The government’s own ECHR memo sets out those limits.

What happens next will be felt locally. With Lords committee stage under way and commencement to follow Royal Assent, survivor services in the North will face more calls for advocacy and records advice. Those services have warned for months that funding is tight - a reality that could blunt the impact unless Whitehall matches policy with resources.