Child sexual exploitation underreported with authorities “struggling to keep pace”

The report says children are being sexually exploited by networks in all parts of England and Wales, with many exploited children raped or sexually assaulted repeatedly over a period of months or even years.

The Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks report noted there appeared to be a flawed assumption that child sexual exploitation was decreasing, but that in reality it has become more of a hidden problem which is increasingly underreported when only linked to other forms of criminal behaviour such as county lines.

The report found issues with language used by professionals, including social workers, around child sexual exploitation that have developed over many years, such as describing children being ‘at risk’ despite clear evidence of actual harm having occurred. Examples include children having contracted sexually transmitted diseases, children regularly going missing with adults who picked them up in cars late at night and children attending so-called ‘house parties’ organised by adults, where they are plied with alcohol and drugs before being sexually abused.

Whilst it is widely recognised that alcohol, drugs and violence are often used as a means to groom and coerce children, the report finds that perpetrators are finding new ways, including through mobile phones, social media and dating apps, to groom and abuse younger children. As the Inquiry heard further evidence of some of the worst examples where children are live streamed for money, sometimes being sexually abused at the direction of the paying perpetrator.

The report focused on local authorities in St Helens, Tower Hamlets, Swansea, Durham, Bristol and Warwickshire – six case study areas that have not already been the subject of well-publicised investigations of child sexual exploitation by networks. During the public hearing, the Inquiry heard harrowing evidence of child sexual exploitation by networks, including evidence in relation to more than 30 children and young people and the institutional response to exploitation of them, as well as victims and survivors, who described their experiences between 2003 and 2011.

None of the areas examined in this investigation kept data on the ethnicity of victims and alleged perpetrators. The report highlights that this makes it impossible to know whether any particular ethnic group is over‐represented as perpetrators of child sexual exploitation by networks. As a result, the report recommended that police forces and local authorities in England and Wales must collect specific data on sex, ethnicity and disability in all cases of known or suspected child sexual exploitation, including by networks.

Authors also warned of problems with victim-blaming, emphasising that too many victims of child exploitation are treated as offenders or somehow responsible for the harms done to them, whilst the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are often not investigated or prosecuted. They argue more effort must be made to prosecute perpetrators effectively and that the law should recognise the gravity of this particular form of abuse and its impact on children.

Chair to the Inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay, said child sexual abuse was “not a rare phenomenon confined to a small number of areas with high-profile criminal cases.” Jay continued: “It is a crime which involves the sexual abuse of children in the most degrading and destructive ways, by multiple perpetrators.”

“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 when only linked to other forms of criminal behaviour such as county lines.”

As a result of the report, Professor Jay and the Inquiry said they will be urging the strengthening of the criminal justice system’s response by amending legislation to provide a mandatory aggravating factor in sentencing those convicted of offences relating to the sexual exploitation of children.

In addition to this, they recommend that the Department for Education (DfE) and the Welsh Government should update guidance on child sexual exploitation to include the identification and response to child sexual exploitation perpetrated by networks and improve the categorisation of risk and harm by local authorities and other institutions.