Surge in child exploitation cases
Derren Hayes
Monday, April 6, 2020
The number of suspected cases of child exploitation in the UK rose by nearly half last year, latest figures show.
Annual data from the National Crime Agency on the number of people referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the system used to identify UK trafficking cases – shows there has been a 45 per cent increase in the number of children identified as potential victims over the past year.
A total of 4,550 children were identified by UK authorities as potential victims of trafficking in 2019, up from 3,137 in 2018. Additionally, nearly half of all victims identified were children – in line with findings from the previous year.
Professionals working with vulnerable children they suspect of being exploited are required to report cases to the NRM. Once reported, cases are assessed with support put in place for those that are confirmed.
The vast majority of child victims were from the UK, however significant numbers of children from Vietnam, Eritrea, Albania and Sudan were identified as potential victims.
In 2019, three quarters of all children identified as potential victims were boys, although campaigners say this is likely to be due to increased recognition of male victims of child criminal exploitation (CCE).
In October 2019, labour exploitation and CCE were recorded as separate exploitation types, having previously been grouped together. This reflected the increased threat posed by criminal gangs towards children, particularly through county lines drugs activity.
Data for the final three months of 2019 shows there were 664 referrals just for CCE and a further 138 in which CCE was suspected alongside other forms of exploitation – meaning CCE accounted for 56 per cent of all exploitation in that quarter.
Campaign group ECPAT UK said the rise in the number of suspected child cases had been driven by increased identification of CCE including "county lines".
Laura Duran, senior policy and research officer at ECPAT UK, said: "Yet again we’re seeing a rise in the number of children identified as potential victims but no accompanying resourcing of support for those affected.
“These numbers represent only those identified as potential victims by professionals – we know that the true number of victims is likely to be significantly higher, so we can expect these figures to continue to rise each year.”
Iryna Pona, policy manager at The Children’s Society, said the “shocking” figures should “ring alarm bells”, but were likely to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to showing the number of children trafficked.
“Too often children at risk are not identified and knowledge of the NRM remains patchy among professionals,” she said.
“The rise in referrals reflects how vulnerable children are being targeted by criminal groups, including for county lines operations - in which criminals cynically groom them using drugs, alcohol and promises of status and wealth then coerce them with terrifying threats, violence and sexual abuse.”
Pona warned that criminals could take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to target children who may be isolated from their usual support networks or missing supervision and support offered by school, college and other education settings.
“Schools and social care should work together to ensure all vulnerable pupils have support from a trusted professional who can check on their wellbeing and help keep them safe at the current time – and that all can attend education wherever possible,” she added.
Analysis by the Local Government Association last year showed the number of children referred to the NRM had risen by 800 per cent since 2014.