Online protection team "flooded" with work

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), set up in 2006, is seen as one of the world's leading child protection organisations.

In the three years it has been running, more than 340 children have been saved from abuse and 700 offenders have been apprehended.

However concerns have been raised that the 120-strong team, which has an annual budget of £9million, is being flooded with work leaving it unable to investigate all cases of child abuse that comes to its attention.

Wes Cuell, director of children and young people services at the NSPCC, sits on the executive management board of Ceop.

He said the NSPCC has been making funding contributions to Ceop for the last three years but this runs out in December.

The charity is reviewing the situation but concedes the current recession could impact on the situation.

He said despite the success of Ceop, the issue of child abuse is getting worse.

"The potential threat of online abuse is very big and numbers exposed to the risk are big and growing.

"It feels to us something the government should continue to take very seriously and it is certainly something we do."

Last month Janet Paraskeva, chair of Ceop's board, admitted in its annual review that "resources are stretched and yet the demand for our work continues to grow. We will need to consider imaginative means to address this."

A Ceop spokeswoman said the organisation is looking to secure and build on funding

"We are reviewing and adjusting to provide solutions to the threat that we are dealing with," she added.