Forces struggling to keep pace with rising online child sexual abuse

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that while officers and staff work hard in difficult circumstances, and some forces have developed innovative approaches, the overall picture across England and Wales falls short of what the public should expect.

The report draws on findings from PEEL inspection cycles covering 2021–22 and 2023–25 across all 43 forces in England and Wales.

Inspectors found that the number of referrals for online child sex abuse from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to police forces rose 66 percent in a single year, from 12,469 in 2023 to 20,704 in 2024. The number of registered sex offenders has increased by 48 percent over the last decade and nearly 3,000 more were added to the register in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24.

HMICFRS said the problems included:

• demand for online child sexual abuse investigation and sex offender management consistently exceeding resources, with some investigators managing up to 54 active cases at one time;
• digital forensic examinations taking up to two years in some forces, which can delay investigations and may leave children without adequate safeguarding for prolonged periods;
• no nationally accredited training course for officers investigating online child sexual abuse, leading to inconsistent quality of investigations across England and Wales;
• technology use varying greatly across forces, with some lacking basic digital triage equipment to check suspects’ devices during home visits; and
• online child sexual abuse investigation and sex offender management being treated as separate areas despite being closely connected, with no joined-up national approach.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said: “Online child sexual abuse is one of the most serious and fastest-growing crimes facing our society today. It can have a lasting and devastating impact on children and their families.

“The officers and staff working in these teams show tremendous dedication in extremely difficult conditions. But dedication alone is not enough. Demand is rising at a rate that forces cannot keep pace with using current resources. Children are waiting too long to be safeguarded. Investigators are carrying unsustainable caseloads. And too many forces lack the technology and training they need to do this work effectively.

“However, forces cannot solve this alone. The Home Office, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing must act urgently on our recommendations. Without national investment and co-ordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.”

The inspectorate also found that some forces were using voluntary attendance for interview instead of arrest when investigating online child sexual abuse, often to manage workloads. Arrest powers allow police to search premises, seize devices and impose bail conditions that restrict a suspect’s behaviour. Without these powers, suspects can continue to access children online while investigations are ongoing. Some forces released suspects under investigation rather than applying bail conditions and told inspectors that they didn’t use bail unless the suspect was high risk or had direct access to children. This doesn’t consider that access to children can also happen online.

HMICFRS found examples of good practice. Warwickshire Police have developed specialist training courses for online child sexual abuse investigators. Thames Valley Police has created a bespoke digital training course for sex offender managers, which the College of Policing is now assessing for national rollout. And Northumbria Police has trained specialist digital media assessors who triage devices at the scene, reducing how many devices are sent for forensic examination and improving the speed and quality of investigations.

However, the inspectorate concluded that individual forces cannot resolve these problems alone. Seven of the 16 recommendations made in the report are directed at national bodies – the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing – because systemic change requires national investment, leadership and co-ordination.

The inspectorate has recommended that:

• the College of Policing should create a national investigators’ course for online child sexual abuse and mandate a bespoke national digital training course for managing sex offenders;
• forces should review their staffing levels to make sure workloads are manageable;
• sex offender managers and the NPCC should review the authorised professional practice (APP) for managing sexual and violent offenders;
• the Home Office and NPCC should explore whether all 43 police forces could purchase digital triage equipment collectively, rather than individually; and
• forces should make sure registered sex offender home visits are always carried out in pairs and unannounced and should consider arrest and bail for all online child sexual abuse suspects.