‘Number on formal protection plans for child sexual abuse at 30-year record low’

The number of children on formal protection plans in England because of sexual abuse has fallen to its lowest level on record, according to analysis which has prompted a charity to warn thousands of child victims could be going undetected and unsupported.

The centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) said there had been “political rhetoric and media furore” earlier this year on the issue of such abuse, but urged “concerted and determined cross-government activity” to tackle it.

The Government has pledged to set out a clear timetable by Easter for implementing all the recommendations in the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

The long wait for the 20 recommendations to be implemented hit the headlines in January after billionaire X owner Elon Musk made comments online focused on child grooming.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused him and others of “spreading lies and misinformation”, but within weeks the Home Office had announced an audit looking into the scale and nature of “gang-based exploitation” across the country as well as local reviews into grooming in some areas.

But the CSA Centre – which is mainly funded by the Home Office and hosted by Barnardo’s – said despite the “significant debate about how children are protected”, child sex abuse is “less likely to be identified and named as a concern in child protection plans than ever before”.

The centre’s analysis found that local authority children’s services in England placed 2,160 children on child protection plans (CPPs) for sexual abuse in 2023/24.

It said this was the lowest number in the 30 years that this data has been collected.

A child becomes the subject of a CPP if they are assessed as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.

They will first have been assessed, having been referred to children’s social care services and inquiries can be made under section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

CPPs are put in place by local authorities to support families and keep children safe and can be initiated for various reasons including neglect, physical, sexual or emotional abuse.

Centre director Ian Dean said concerns about child sexual abuse accounted for around a quarter of a social worker’s child protection caseload three decades ago, but “is now recorded in barely 4% of child protection plans”.

He described this as “deeply troubling”, with the centre estimating around 500,000 children are sexually abused in England each year.

The CSA Centre said surveys show “sexual abuse is just as common as other forms of childhood abuse and harm, yet issues such as neglect and emotional abuse remain much more likely to be identified in children’s services data”.

The report said: “The number of children being identified by police and local authorities is only the tip of the iceberg, and the gap is getting wider.”

Mr Dean said while not all children who are sexually abused or at risk of being sexually abused need to be on a CPP, “child in need and child protection measures are often the only way to track and ensure that action is taken to protect and support them”.

He said: “Beyond the political rhetoric and media furore, these longstanding issues require concerted and determined cross-government activity, with sustained commitment over the coming years.”

Lynn Perry, Barnardo’s chief executive, said: “This report by the CSA Centre makes it clear that thousands of children experiencing sexual abuse are going undetected and unsupported.”

The charity repeated a call to the Government to guarantee specialist therapeutic support for child victims of sexual abuse, which was one of the IICSA recommendations.

It said: “There is a unique opportunity here to improve how professionals who are responsible for keeping children safe work better together, and provide the right level of funding, so that police officers, social workers, teachers and others have the resources they need to identify children at risk of abuse, put the right support in place, and give them back their future.”

Annie Hudson, chairwoman of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, said the CSA Centre report “highlights some very concerning trends” and described it as “worrying that the number of children on a child protection plan for sexual abuse is now at the lowest level since the data started being recorded 30 years ago”.

She added: “It is vital that we recognise the challenges children face in verbally reporting sexual abuse, and that practitioners have the knowledge, skills and confidence to identify and respond to concerns.

“It is critical, therefore, that Government provides strong leadership and delivers a robust strategy to address its stark reality of child sexual abuse in all its forms.”

The Local Government Association said it is “vital that all professionals working with children, including in children’s social care, the police, health and the voluntary and community sector, have high-quality training to enable them to identify and respond to potential signs of abuse rather than relying on verbal disclosures”.

A Government spokesperson said: “The findings in this report are deeply concerning. Child sexual abuse is an abhorrent crime that no child should ever have to face, and we know that it can have lifelong negative repercussions for victims and survivors.

“As a child-centred Government, we are working at pace to address the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, including introducing the duty for professionals to report child sexual abuse through the Crime and Policing Bill.

“Through our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we’re driving better child protection and improving information sharing between teachers, social workers and other professionals to prevent children falling through the cracks.”