Currently, far more children experience sexual abuse, including child sexual exploitation (CSE), than services are aware of. Our latest data suggests the gap between recorded cases and experiences of abuse may be widening. Our moderate estimate remains that at least 15 per cent of girls and five per cent of boys in England and Wales experience some form of child sexual abuse (CSA) before the age of 16. That’s a huge number of children and young people (and their families) that need support.
Hidden abuse
Our review of the latest evidence on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse in England and Wales, co-authored with Professor Liz Kelly, aims to shine a much-needed light on this hidden form of abuse. In this report, we collated all publicly available official data from policing, criminal justice, health and children’s social care and reviewed it alongside survey data. The latest available data for this review was from 2019/20, which precedes any potential impact of the pandemic and Covid-19 measures.
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