Council redactions delayed grooming investigations, watchdog finds

An official watchdog has found that Manchester City Council significantly delayed investigations into historic child sexual exploitation cases by sending police heavily redacted evidence.

The report by HMICFRS revealed that some documents sent to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were so censored they contained “only a few words per page,” making them almost useless for evidence assessment. This caused long delays in major investigations like Operations Green Jacket and Bernese.

Manchester Council defended its actions, citing complex legal rules around personal data sharing, but admitted that early cooperation was limited. A new system is now in place allowing investigators to access full documents remotely, which has improved efficiency.

The report also praised GMP for improving its handling of such cases, with a new 98-strong specialist team now in place. However, it warned that trust in the system remains low among survivors due to past failings.