Victims abused in Lambeth Council children’s homes paid over £108m so far

Victims abused in Lambeth Council children's homes have so far been paid over £108 million in compensation by the local authority.

Thousands of people have applied for damages from the South London Council since it started offering pay-outs four years ago, GB News reports. 

Hundreds of children were subjected to sexual, physical, racial and psychological abuse while staying in Lambeth-run children's homes between the 1930s and 1980s. 

Lambeth launched its redress scheme in January 2018 to compensate victims of one of the UK's worst child abuse scandals. Applications for pay-outs closed on January 1, 2022. However convictions for historic sexual abuse continue, with a Lambeth Council care worker jailed on January 18, 2022, for his part in what was found to be "decades of cruelty and abuse" faced by children in the council's care.

A total of 2,236 people have requested compensation from Lambeth and 72 per cent, or around 1,609, of these applications have now been processed. The £108 million already handed out to victims is believed to be one of the largest sexual abuse pay-outs by any council in England. 

Millions more could still be shelled out in compensation. In November 2021, it was revealed a man who had been sexually abused while in the care of Lambeth Council in the 1980s had received a six figure sum from the local authority. Staff at the children's homes he stayed in would lock him in his room and remove the light bulb knowing he was scared of the dark. The abuse started with workers tapping him on his bottom.

In 2021, an independent report into Lambeth children's homes said employees treated children as if they were "worthless." The Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse report said: "With some exceptions, they [Lambeth Council staff] treated children in care as if they were worthless. As a consequence, individuals who posed a risk to children were able to infiltrate children's homes and foster care, with devastating, life-long consequences for their victims."

Lambeth Council shut its network of children's homes in 1983. A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: "Lambeth Council has apologised for the shameful abuse committed against children and young people at the borough's children's homes. Lambeth Council's redress scheme is the first of its kind in the country with the compensation and support provided to victims."