Child sexual abuse in 2021/22 – Trends in official data

Date: Tuesday, 28th Feb 2023 | Category: General

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse have released a new report bringing together data from children’s social care, policing, criminal justice and health to build a picture of how services identified and responded to child sexual abuse in 2021/22.

Key findings include:

• An encouraging 15% increase in concerns of child sexual abuse being identified by children’s services and a 15% increase in police recorded offences of child sexual abuse. This is thought to be due to several factors such as a shift in societal awareness, increased conversations around sexual abuse and a greater priority given by professionals to identifying concerns.

Sadly, there are some persistent and familiar challenges including concerns about the growing time taken for offences to proceed through the criminal justice system. In 2021/22, it took nearly two years from reporting child sexual abuse to the police and the case concluding in court.

Read the full report