Police not doing enough to tackle group-based child sexual exploitation, report finds

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) noted that progress had been made in tackling group-based child sexual exploitation, with some relatively recent positive developments, such as the Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce.

However, the inspectorate found that progress, overall, had been too slow and identified the need for forces to urgently make improvements.

Responding to the report, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for child protection, Ian Critchley QPM, acknowledged that while there has been improvement, “it is clear that there are areas of inconsistency that need addressing”.

The inspection of the effectiveness of the police and law enforcement bodies’ response to group-based child sexual exploitation in England and Wales made nine recommendations and identified one area for improvement, which aim to help ensure children are better protected in future.

Problems identified by HMICFRS included:

• A lack of a clear definition for group-based child sexual exploitation. This means there is no common understanding of the threat, and vulnerable children may not be safeguarded promptly enough and instead left at risk of exploitation;
• Unreliable data collection and a failure to prioritise intelligence gathering, which means forces are unable to form an accurate view of the issue; and
• The quality of criminal investigations is inconsistent, with non-specialist investigating officers lacking the experience and training to progress investigations promptly and effectively.

HMICFRS also found a number of examples of victim-blaming language, with some senior officers failing to recognise this as a cultural issue.

The inspectorate said this was “unacceptable”. As well as resulting in important lines of inquiry being overlooked, or dismissed, victim-blaming attitudes can lead to a lack of safeguarding, leaving children unprotected, said HMICFRS.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Wendy Williams said: “Group-based child sexual exploitation has a devastating effect on children and their families. It cannot be overstated how complex and challenging these crimes can be to prevent and investigate, and the police can’t tackle them alone.

“Over the years, the police and law enforcement bodies have improved how they support victims and understand their needs. However, the pace of change needs to increase, and this starts with understanding the problem.

“We found that the police, law enforcement bodies and the Government still didn’t have a full understanding of the nature or scale of these crimes. This needs to change, and these agencies must work together effectively to protect children from harm and bring offenders to justice.”

HMICFRS recognised that over the years, the police and law enforcement bodies have improved how they support victims and understand their needs.

“However, child sexual exploitation is still under-reported,” it added. “It is therefore the responsibility of the police to work proactively with safeguarding partners to identify these crimes and give victims and their families the confidence to report them.

“The police must make it a priority to make sure that victims feel heard.

“After we had finished this inspection, the Government announced that it intended to establish a new child sexual exploitation taskforce.

“The objective of the taskforce is to improve how the police respond to and tackle group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. This is a welcome development.”

The inspectorate said the area for improvement should see all chief constables work with their statutory safeguarding partners to review, promote and make sure that relevant group-based child sexual exploitation disruption and prevention initiatives are implemented effectively in their forces.

This should include consideration of options such as the advice given in the Home Office disruption toolkit and an Operation Makesafe (a national police initiative to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation in the business community) type of approach.

Mr Critchley said: “Child sexual exploitation is deplorable and inflicts lifelong harm on vulnerable victims and their families.

“Policing is absolutely committed to keeping children safe and protecting them from abuse in all its forms and bringing more offenders to justice whenever and wherever these abhorrent crimes were committed.

“Following the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), I apologised to the many victims that had been so let down by policing and the wider criminal justice system recognising the huge impact on them and their families.

“Policing is committed to continue to improve in this crucial area, the public rightly expect nothing less.

“As such, I welcome this report and the engagement that policing has had with the inspectorate throughout, which highlights areas of improvement, but is also clear that there are areas of inconsistency that need addressing.

“At the centre of this are child victims and adult survivors and this report is welcomed in helping policing to continue to improve its prevention, disruption and investigation of these appalling crimes.

“The report identifies where this is done well and areas where further improvements are needed.

“The report also highlights that policing takes a victim-centred approach and found good evidence of safeguarding children. Furthermore, it found where forces had invested in specialist teams, there was an enhanced quality of investigation.

“However, there is still too much inconsistency in some areas, including the use of victim-blaming language – not seen in some forces, but still present in others, and where there are non-specialist staff investigating offences, the quality of investigations are not to the standard expected.”

Mr Critchley added: “It is pleasing though that the recommendations around data collection, definitions and intelligence collection have already been progressed through the Government-funded Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce, which was established in April 2023, to enhance the policing response to child sexual exploitation and abuse and coordinate national best practice and guidance.

“We are also working with the College of Policing on the development of the Professionalising Public Protection Programme further enhancing training for specialist and frontline officers and staff.

“The work of the taskforce has accelerated this crucial work that was already being progressed in forces and nationally through the Hydrant Programme and we are seeing more offenders being brought to justice for current and non-recent group-based offending.

“The taskforce is currently supporting 40 investigations nationally and many of these are being advised by the Crown Prosecution Service Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit.

“Whilst we are seeing significant improvements in policing’s approach to targeting and investigating child sexual exploitation and group-based offending, we will not be complacent, and we recognise there is still more to be done as highlighted in this report. Through our work, we will continue to listen to victims and use these recommendations to support our improvements with forces across the country.

“Every child has the right to thrive in society, protected from harm and abuse and we will continue to strengthen our work with partners and improve how we prevent offending – giving confidence to victims to come forward when they need us most.”