Child sex abuse was downplayed by councils and police in an effort to avoid being labelled "another Rochdale or Rotherham", an inquiry has found.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has published its findings on child sexual exploitation by organised networks.
The IICSA concluded that there were "extensive failures" in the way child sexual exploitation by gangs was tackled, with police and authorities potentially downplaying the scale of abuse over concerns about negative publicity.
It said that child victims were often blamed by authorities for the ordeals they suffered.
The report suggested that this might be because of a determination to assure they are not seen as being like Rochdale and Rotherham - two towns that were blighted by recent child sexual grooming exploitation revelations.
Prof Alexis Jay, who chaired the inquiry, said: "The sexual exploitation of children by networks is not a rare phenomenon confined to a small number of areas with high-profile criminal cases.
"We found extensive failures by local authorities and police forces in the ways in which they tackled this sexual abuse.
"There appeared to be a flawed assumption that child sexual exploitation was on the wane, however it has become even more of a hidden problem and increasingly underestimated."
The report, the 18th from the IICSA since it was established, featured harrowing testimony from more than 30 young witnesses.
The report considered institutions within six local authority areas: St Helens, Tower Hamlets, Swansea, Durham, Bristol and Warwickshire.
