We’re launching a campaign with the Home Office to tackle child sexual abuse and raise awareness for our Helpline.

• New data reveals almost 87,000 sexual offences against children were recorded by police in 2022/23.
• Types of offences included rape, sexual assault, grooming and sexual exploitation.
• We are encouraging adults to contact our Helpline if they are concerned a child could be at risk.

Our new research reveals that child sexual offences recorded by police over the past year remain close to record levels.

We submitted a Freedom of Information request which showed a total of 86,962 sexual offences against children were recorded by police across the UK in 22/23. This remains one of the highest on record since we started this annual research 16 years ago.

Types of offences recorded included rape, sexual assault, grooming and sexual exploitation. The highest number of crimes where age was known were against 11-15 year olds.

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Helpline x Home Office – Better Safe campaign

This is data is why we are launching a new campaign in partnership with the Home Office to tackle child sexual abuse.

Together, we are encouraging adults to contact our Helpline if they are concerned a child could be at risk. The partnership also encourages people to report on instances where there are concerns that a child might be experiencing sexual abuse.

The Home Office is providing funding for our Helpline to increase capacity as well as to raise awareness of our service to the public and professionals.

We have created two films promoting the new campaign. These show how adults can use the Helpline to share any concerns they may have about a child’s safety or welfare. One of these films is tailored to professionals, and the other reaches out to the general public.

Source:Almost 87,000 sexual offences against children were recorded by police in the past year | NSPCC