Only a Tiny Fraction of Child Abuse Allegations Made by Victims are Leading to Charges
Newly-released figures expose the huge hurdles that victims and their families face in order to get justice
Only five per cent of the 200,000 reports of child abuse which were lodged in England in the last three years have so far led to charges, in what one child abuse protection advocate has branded a “very uncomfortable statistic”.
Sammy added that’s she is shocked by how child abuse is treated in the UK. “I had to fight and fight for justice, and it took years. I have spoken to victims who have been abused and won’t go to the police as they fear they won’t get justice. I am not surprised by that many reports of child abuse and hardly any charges.”
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on child abuse suggest that around 227,500 child abuse offences were recorded by the police in the year ending March 2019 of which around 1 in 25 (4%) resulted in a charge or summons. While not all cases continued through the criminal justice system, almost four in five of child abuse-flagged Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutions were successful in securing a conviction in the year ending March 2019 (79%).
The data, revealed through Freedom of Information requests to 39 police forces, – of which 36 responded – shows that there have been approximately 74,187 reported offences involving cruelty and neglect to children out of the 218,098 reported child abuse offences from January 1st, 2021, to January 1st, 2024, and there has only been 1,157 convictions for cruelty and neglect to children.
That works out to 1.5%.
The CPS explained that the child cruelty and neglect offence comes under Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and not every report of child cruelty and neglect as recorded by police will be prosecuted under that charge. The CPS also pointed out that the offender could be charged under other Child Abuse offences including harassment, abandonment of a child, and parental assault – based on the available evidence.
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Certain areas within England have seen particular spikes in reported cases of cruelty to children – West Yorkshire has had a 226% increase with 1443 in 2021 to 4706 in 2024. Avon and Somerset Police had reported a 75% rise with 882 reported offences to 1542 offences and Bedfordshire Police has had a 63% increase, rising from 56 cases to 91 cases between the set period.
Detective Superintendent Mike Buck who leads the Avon and Somerset Police Force on offences against children commented on the increase – “The increase in police-recorded child cruelty and neglect is something we monitor closely. There will be child cruelty and neglect which police never learn of because it is never reported, therefore greater numbers of accurately recorded offences are cautiously welcomed as it is an opportunity to safeguard more children.”
Recorded data from the police forces in England and Wales show that from April 2012 to March 2019, there has been a 193.65% increase in recorded offences of child cruelty from 6,370 to 18,706.
The National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) told Byline Times, “In June 2015, the offence of ‘cruelty to children/young persons’ was amended to include cases where suffering or injury are psychological in nature as well as physical. This accounts for the significant increase, as the category has widened.”
The spokesperson said that they are taking action to tackle abuse by investing £45m to test the delivery of new local multi-agency child protection teams as part of a pilot which brings together local authorities, police, health and education to make sure that where children need protection this happens quickly.
The NSPCC set out the challenges they are facing protecting children from abuse.
“The child protection system has been under substantial pressure over the last few years, particularly since the pandemic”, a spokesperson said.
“In 2022-23, more than 655,000 children in need assessments were completed by children’s social care to determine whether a child requires support from a service.”
They point out that the frontline of child protection, including health, policing and children’s services, are experiencing spiralling costs and high demand.
“England’s largest councils have reported that they are overspending on their budgets by over £600m due to ‘uncontrollable’ spending pressures driving up the cost of delivering services to vulnerable children. This is straining the child protection system and is leaving those who work with families unequipped to adequately respond when things reach crisis point”.
Additionally, the data highlights that 61,778 victims either declined or withdrew from support in that three-year period. Sammy Woodhouse, an activist against child abuse told Byline Times, “It is every minute of every day, it takes over your life and it can go on for years.”
Sammy Woodhouse, herself a victim of the Rotherham Grooming Scandal said, “We must acknowledge the horrors that victims of abuse endure during investigations, as they are forced to disclose the most horrific acts in the world to adults they have never met. When you are being abused by someone, you get a lot of threats, it is terrifying. My experience took a piece of my soul, and I never got it back.
“There needs to be compassion and support for the victims going through this ordeal.”
Emma-Jayne Taylor, an advocate for child abuse, told this paper that there is a “reluctance” to push for child abuse cases to be properly investigated, complicated further by the conversations between alleged victims and authorities which “can be quite unsettling for the survivor”. This, Taylor explained, can lead to complaints being withdrawn, or watered down, “because they are fearful of the process and what might happen to them”.
Often that fear is pushed by the person interviewing the victim. They have to be warned of the difficulties that lie ahead, but the must be encouraged to go forth anyway.
Emma Jayne Taylor told this paper, “Abused children are seriously affected by abuse and given one statistic on child abuse is 90/100 (90%) of children being abused are being abused by someone they know – this would mean that it could be harder for a child to truly speak out against someone they love, which muddies the water on charges made, or even how to navigate that highly sensitive conversation.”
Children, especially little girls, are absolutely heroic when it comes to protecting their family. Unfortunately, a family predator will take advantage of that and will also convince the victim that it was all their fault, and they deserved it.
The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel De Souza said, “Child abuse in any form is abhorrent – and, despite many important safeguards introduced over the past 40 years including the creation of my own role of Children’s Commissioner, it remains far too common. There are a huge number of dedicated and hardworking professionals working across all services, but still too many children live in areas where these services are failing to keep them safe.”
Dame Rachel De Souza added that the nature of child abuse is changing, with the risks facing children existing not just in person but also online. “We all have a collective responsibility to protect children, across education, care and health services. We need to see services working with each other, rather than in competition with each other.”
Recorded data reveals the staffing issues facing the UK in terms of social workers employed. In September 1999, there were 221,700 social workers compared to 122,400 social workers employed in 2024.
She added that she has repeatedly called for a number of steps to be taken to better protect vulnerable children and families from falling through the gaps in services. “This includes a unique identifying number for every child to prevent them from becoming ‘invisible’, and a register of every child not coming to school. I’m pleased that this was included in the government’s first King’s Speech as a priority.”
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