Publications & Resources

A full list of research, practice guidance and reports by the CSA Centre

May 2023

Research & evidence

Kairika Karsna

Improving your data on child sexual abuse: A practical guide for organisations

Update of the original 2019 version. This guide offers much-needed practical advice for organisations about the data they collect on child sexual abuse, and how they should record it. It sets out 21 core items of data which all organisations responding to child sexual abuse should try to collect. It has been designed to use along side our interactive data improvement tool.

February 2023

Research & evidence

Kairika Karsna and Paige Bromley (CSA Centre)

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

Our 2021/22 report brings together data from children’s social care, policing, criminal justice and health, to build a picture of how agencies identify and respond to child sexual abuse and provide a unique insight into the changing trends in practice.

April 2022

Research & evidence

Kairika Karsna

Child sexual abuse in 2020/2021: Trends in official data

Our 2020/21 report brings together data from children’s social care, policing, criminal justice and health, to build a picture of how agencies identify and respond to child sexual abuse and provide a unique insight into the changing trends in practice.

December 2021

Research & evidence

Nadia Wager, Alexandra Myers and Diana Parkinson

Police disruption of child sexual abuse: Findings from a national survey of frontline personnel and strategic leads for safeguarding

This research study was commissioned by the CSA Centre to explore the ways in which police forces across England and Wales seek to disrupt child sexual abuse. It uses an online survey of frontline officers and staff across 32 police force areas in England and Wales, and strategic leads across 20 forces to better understand current police practice, challenges and enablers in disrupting child sexual abuse.

December 2021

Research & evidence

Nadia Wager, Alexandra Myers and Diana Parkinson

Police disruption of child sexual abuse: A scoping review

This report sets out the findings from a scoping review of existing literature to explore the existing literature on the use of disruption measures by police forces in relation to child sexual abuse, and the effectiveness of those measures.

September 2021

Research & evidence

Jasmin Tregidga and Jo Lovett

Identifying and responding to child sexual abuse within complex safeguarding approaches: An exploratory study

This small-scale exploratory study considers the extent to which all forms of child sexual abuse feature in the work of professionals working within a complex safeguarding team. The findings highlight the complexities of language used around child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation and the challenges professions face in addressing concerns of child sexual abuse – especially without verbal disclosure - while endeavouring to build and maintain relationships of trust with young people.

June 2021

Research & evidence

Kairika Karsna and Professor Liz Kelly

The scale and nature of child sexual abuse: Review of evidence

Our 2021 report bringing together the latest evidence from surveys and official agency records to set out what is and is not known about the scale and nature of child sexual abuse in England and Wales.

March 2021

Research & evidence

Nasreen Ali, Jabeer Butt and Melanie Phillips (Race Equality Foundation)

Improving responses to the sexual abuse of Black, Asian and minority ethnic children

A small scale study produced for the CSA Centre by the Race Equality Foundation (REF) to explore the perspectives of professionals working with children from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who have experienced child sexual abuse. The research consisted of interviews with 16 professionals working in the voluntary sector and across local authorities.

October 2020

Research & evidence

Diana Parkinson and Rosaline Sullivan

Effectiveness of services for sexually abused children and young people report 2: A survey of service providers

This report sets out the findings from an online survey of 50 organisations that were providing specific support to children and young people at risk of or had experienced child sexual abuse, or specifically targeting child sexual abuse, including child sexual exploitation, sometimes alongside wider services. It asked them about the type of services they delivered, the children and young people they worked with, the aspects of service delivery that they considered to be most effective, the challenges they faced and the way they evaluated their services.

September 2020

Research & evidence

CSA Centre

Responding to child sexual abuse: Learning from children’s services in Wales – Briefing and recommendations

This briefing summarises the key findings from the Responding to child sexual abuse: Learning from children’s services in Wales full report, and outlines the CSA Centre’s recommendations for changes to local and national policy and practice in response.