South Yorkshire Police’s legal bill for handling CSE victim compensation claims reaches £2.3m

To date, the force has received 103 claims and settled 55, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The force did not state how much compensation it has paid to victims, in a bid to protect their wellbeing and prevent distress.

However, it did reveal that £1.3 million has been paid to paid to three claimant solicitor firms

In 2016, an inquiry ordered by South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner Dr Alan Billings branded the force’s safeguarding of children and young people from child sexual exploitation “inadequate”

The claims are small percentage of the 1,400 victims that the National Crime Agency believes were subject to CSE in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.