Exploitation by county lines gangs increased during lockdown, government figures show

The most recent modern slavery statistics, published by the Home Office, show a five per cent drop in overall referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) during lockdown compared with the same four months (April - June) the previous year.

However, for the first time, more referrals were received for potential child victims than adults.

• Opinion – County lines victims need specialist response

• Child Criminal Exploitation – Tackling Criminal Exploitation

More than a third (38 per cent) of the NRM referrals were for potential victims who claimed exploitation as adults compared with 52 per cent in the preceding quarter, whilst 58 per cent claimed exploitation as children.

Some 78 per cent of child potential victims were male while 22 per cent were female, figures show.

The increase in potential child victims is “partially driven by an increase in the identification of ‘county lines’ cases,” the report states.

Between April and June, 409 referrals were flagged as county lines referrals, accounting for 19 per cent of all referrals received in the quarter, figures show. The majority of these referrals - 346 or 85 per cent - were made for boys.

Experts warned that county lines gangs had “adapted their methods where necessary and took advantage of a situation in which many children were out of view of teachers, social workers and youth workers” to groom more young people during lockdown.

Iryna Pona, policy manager at The Children’s Society, said: “We saw through our frontline services how criminals continued to cynically groom and exploit vulnerable children to traffic drugs during lockdown. 

“They adapted their methods where necessary and took advantage of a situation in which many children were out of view of teachers, social workers and youth workers – meaning that even these shocking figures may be just the tip of the iceberg. Our research has also found that awareness of the NRM among professionals is patchy.”

Criminal exploitation accounted for 55 per of all referrals for children received by the NRM, with 93 per cent of these relating to males. 

However, 90 per cent of referrals for child sexual exploitation were for female potential victims. 

In response to the figures, The Children’s Society is calling on the government to introduce a national strategy to tackle child criminal exploitation which is defined in law.

Pona added: “Even when children are assessed to be victims of child criminal exploitation, the support they receive remains inconsistent and often insufficient and too many children are not identified until exploitation is deeply ingrained in their lives. 

“It’s vital that all vulnerable children who are not yet in school, or in the event of future school closures, have access to a named trusted professional who can help ensure they are getting the support they need and identify any risks they may be facing.”