The National Crime Agency (NCA) will target those who have sexually exploited children as part of a grooming gang, and will look at cases that were previously dismissed.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement: “The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children.

“Not enough people listened to them then. That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now.

“More than 800 grooming gang cases have already been identified by police after I asked them to look again at cases which had closed too early.

“Now we are asking the National Crime Agency to lead a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

The NCA will work with various police forces and specialist officers from the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, Operation Hydrant as well as the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme.

The move comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a national inquiry into child sex abuse on Saturday, ahead of an audit, requested by the government, of the scale of grooming gangs and whether a nationwide probe was necessary.

Sir Keir had previously said a national inquiry was not necessary.

The report is expected to link illegal immigration with the exploitation of young girls.