Welcome to Supporting Victims of Unfounded Allegations of Abuse 

A  Nonprofit Company Limited by Guarantee.  Company Number 12088460.    Known as FACT

Please visit our website for full details (http://www.factuk.org).

Brief Summary of FACT’s  Principles, History, and Values.

FACT is a voluntary organisation which exists to  advise and give information to those who have been falsely accused of abuse throughout the UK.

We would wish to make it clear from the outset that we have no doubt that sometimes children and adults are abused by people in positions of trust and that this has occurred in both historical and a contemporary context. However we believe that the extent to which this is said to have occurred is exaggerated and that many innocent people are caught up in these types of investigations and subsequent cases.

We fully accept that all complaints of abuse must be thoroughly investigated and that any form of abuse perpetrated upon children, adults and vulnerable people  is wrong and that the police and investigative agencies have a difficult but essential job to do.

FACT was started as a response to the decisions of various police forces throughout the UK to undertake investigations into alleged historical child abuse in many institutions, initially in former children’s homes and residential schools. The first police force to do this on a significant scale was North Wales in 1991. Many innocent people were caught up in these investigations, some were wrongfully convicted. All suffered serious consequences, and needed an organisation that could support them.

Since 1991, there have been many other large scale investigations into alleged child abuse. These have been widely publicised.  Victims of abuse have been encouraged to come forward. Since then there have been various changes to the law and to policy to make it easier to convict someone of  abuse, and the police have tried to be more ‘victim friendly’. Unfortunately, while these changes have benefited genuine victims they have also made it easier for innocent people to be accused, charged and even convicted of child sexual abuse.

Not all allegations of abuse are true. Some people may deliberately lie, motivated by revenge or the possibility of financial compensation or by the need for attention. Others may not knowingly lie, but may have a false memory of an event in the distant past or may have misinterpreted something that took place several decades earlier.  It is important to realise that 30 or 40 years ago people were not so aware of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and the risk of wrongful allegations, so may have not taken so much care to avoid behaviour that could be misinterpreted decades later.

If you would like to know more then please email the secretary at support@factuk.org  or look at our website and/or complete the join us form.