Two social workers looking at an infographic in a printed briefing document

Infographics

Explore our key data and latest trends in identification and response to child sexual abuse in digestible infographics

Far more children are sexually abused than services identify

References: Home Office, Police recorded crime and outcomes 2021/22; Department for Education, Characteristics of children in need 2021/22. *Estimate calculated using single-year prevalence estimates by age group (Radford et al, 2011, Childhood abuse and neglect in the UK today) and the Office for National Statistics 2021 census results. Please note: numbers rounded to the nearest hundred.

Sexual abuse is just as common as other forms of childhood abuse

References: Office for National Statistics, Child abuse in England and Wales, 2021

References: Department for Education, Characteristics of children in need 2021/22

Where children live matters

References: Home Office, Police recorded crime and outcomes 2021/22

References: Department for Education, Characteristics of children in need 2021/22

References: Home Office, Police recorded crime and outcomes 2021/22

References: Department for Education, Characteristics of children in need 2021/22

Child sexual abuse is prevalent across England and Wales but where children live impacts whether that abuse is identified.

These maps show the average rates within each region; there are wide differences in rates across regions between individual police forces / local authorities.