We can’t afford to pay victims of sex abuse, claims child charity

A CHILDREN’S charity whose care homes were likened to prison camps during an inquiry into widespread child abuse is quibbling over compensation.

Quarriers admitted ‘children were subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse’ while in its care, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard in 2018.

But the charity has lobbied Deputy First Minister John Swinney over how much compensation it should pay to victims, pleading its ‘current financial position be considered’.

Following a meeting with Mr Swinney, Quarriers reported it had discussed how much it ‘will be able to contribute towards the financial redress’.

The latest accounts on the charity’s website show a net income of £931,000 in 2018, down from nearly £2.4 million the previous year.

Survivors said they were ‘surprised’ and ‘disappointed’ Quarriers were trying to negotiate on compensation.

Helen Holland of In Care Abuse Survivors Scotland said: ‘If this is a softly, softly approach, then it’s very much the wrong approach. The approach should be that harm has been done, and this is what is expected of you.’

Quarriers was one of three children’s charities, along with Barnardo’s and Aberlour Child Care Trust, investigated at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Last month, inquiry chairman Lady Smith found that youngsters in its care were physically, emotionally and sexually abused.

The judge said the charities’ founders ‘would surely have been appalled’ as she condemned the ‘harsh, rigid regimes’.

During the inquiry, Quarriers was likened to a prison camp, with one survivor saying: ‘We just existed. This was life.’

Although some workers were convicted of crimes, survivors said the abuse went far deeper.

In 2018, Kate Dowdalls, QC, read a statement on behalf of Quarriers, saying she was ‘instructed first to reiterate the unreserved apology that was offered to survivors of abuse on May 31, 2017, at the outset of the hearings during phase one of this inquiry’. She added: ‘Quarriers acknowledges children were subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse in their care.’

David Whelan, spokesman for Former Boys and Girls Abused in Quarriers, said: ‘We have always said the criminal convictions of eight Quarriers exemployees for child abuse, which included physical, emotional and sexual abuse in all its forms represented the tip of the iceberg.’

Survivors have long warned that financial redress has taken too long, with many victims dying without seeing justice.

Last year, the Scottish Government launched a fast-track scheme, with sick and elderly survivors receiving £10,000. The full scheme has yet to be set out.

Miss Holland said the money symbolises a form of justice, many decades after the abuse took place. She added: ‘There’s a vulgarity of it boiling down to finance. Nothing can compensate survivors for what happened.

‘Nothing can give them back their childhood. No amount of money can erase the memories.

‘But the point of financial redress is it allows some form of reparation to take place.’

Miss Holland said Mr Swinney had assured campaigners that he would see justice done.

But she added: ‘I respect him for that, but he should not have to cajole and plead.

‘It seems wrong that these people are in a position to have any say about how much they contribute – they should be told.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We have made no judgments or conclusions as to how the redress scheme should be established or operate. We are grateful for the views of all those who took part to help inform this hugely important work. We’ll consider all responses.’

A spokesman for Quarriers said: ‘Quarriers has responded to the consultation on redress and will continue to engage with the Scottish Government.’

‘No amount of money can erase memories’