UNITED KINGDOM
Big Issue North

December 4, 2017

The head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse insists it is on track to complete its hearings despite the criticism and loss of its previous chairs

Not long after qualifying as a social worker in Scotland, Alexis Jay took on some of her “most challenging work ever”. That role was to relocate 45 of Glasgow’s homeless family groups into bed and breakfast accommodation.

“It was a very significant experience for me,” she says. At that point, Jay could “not have imagined at all” that one day she’d be heading a multi-million pound inquiry into historic child sex abuse – one that, if all goes according to plan, could uncover institutional failings in some of the UK’s most longstanding establishments, including the NHS, the BBC and Westminster.

“I certainly didn’t expect to be in this position –…