Child Exploitation JSNA

Strategic Issue 1

What needs to be done

Work to address the increasing prevalence of CCE and County Lines.

• Early intervention in schools: targeted work with excluded pupils or those at risk of exclusion.
• Youth-led prevention: peer-led or youth-informed programmes to build resilience.
• Family support for CCE: specialist support for families affected by county lines.
• Data on local prevalence: There is a need for local data and predictive analytics to track trends in CCE.

Why

• Schools are uniquely positioned to identify risk early, build resilience, and disrupt exploitation pathways. There is currently limited mention of targeted work with excluded pupils or those at risk of exclusion.
• Young people are more likely to listen to and trust their peers than adults. Peer educators can break down complex issues in language and formats that resonate. There is no clear evidence of peer-led or youth-informed programmes to build resilience.
• Where SCARPA works with families there may be a gap in specialist support for families affected by county lines. Families can be powerful safeguarding partners and with the right support can spot early warning signs, disrupt exploiters’ access and rebuild trust and stability
• This identifies the scale and nature of the problem which supports targeted interventions, improves multi-agency coordination, enhances professional and community awareness (through training and shaping public awareness campaigns) and enables monitoring and evaluation. There is no real-time local data dashboards or predictive analytics to track trends in CCE.

Strategic Issue 2

What needs to be done

Improve the coordination of data and intelligence sharing.

• Establish a multi-agency data-sharing protocol
  • Develop a formal agreement between police, health, education, social care, and voluntary sector partners to ensure consistent and lawful data exchange.
  • Use the Caldicott Principles and DfE Information Sharing Guidance as a framework.
• Create a shared exploitation intelligence dashboard
  • Integrate data from different agencies into a single platform (e.g. Power BI) to monitor trends, hotspots, and risk profiles.
  • Include anonymised case data, disruption orders, and safeguarding referrals.
  • Unified data platform for real-time intelligence across police, education, health, and social care.
• Appoint a local exploitation intelligence lead
  • A designated officer or analyst to coordinate intelligence gathering, ensure data quality, and support strategic decision-making.
  • Invest in compatible digital systems or APIs that allow secure data exchange across agencies.
• Use consistent child identifiers
  • Using NHS numbers or other identifiers to ensure children are efficiently tracked across systems
• Community Intelligence
  • Use a structured mechanism for capturing community observations (e.g. from housing, transport, youth workers).
• Mandatory exploitation awareness training for all frontline staff
  • Include housing officers, transport staff, youth workers, and school staff.
  • Use trauma-informed and inclusive safeguarding modules.
• Expand community engagement campaigns
  • Build on initiatives like #LookCloser and Operation Artemis.
  • Use local media, schools, and youth clubs to raise awareness of signs and risks.
• Develop survivor-informed training resources
  • Co-produce materials with young people who have lived experience of exploitation.
  • Include real-life scenarios and guidance on responding sensitively.
• Introduce safeguarding champions in schools and community settings
  • Trained individuals who act as points of contact and support for peers and staff.

Why

• Multi-agency data-sharing protocols

The DfE Information Sharing Advice for Practitioners and Working Together to Safeguard Children stress that effective safeguarding depends on timely and lawful information sharing.

The Caldicott Principles (especially Principle 7) support the idea that sharing information can be as important as protecting confidentiality.

• Shared exploitation intelligence dashboard

Local authorities increasingly use tools like Power BI to visualise safeguarding data. This supports proactive identification of trends and hotspots, as recommended by the Home Office Disruption Toolkit.

A unified data platform that can be shared among police, education, health and social care.

• Exploitation intelligence lead

A designated lead ensures accountability and consistency, aligning with NHS England’s guidance on safeguarding leadership roles.

The DfE Improving Multi-Agency Information Sharing report highlights that incompatible systems are a major barrier to safeguarding. Interoperability improves efficiency and reduces missed opportunities.

• Use consistent child identifiers

Consistent child identifiers ensure children are efficiently tracked across systems.

• Community Intelligence

Many forms of child exploitation occur outside the home and school where community members may witness signs professionals miss. This builds a shared safeguarding culture which fosters trust, awareness and collective action. Many cases of exploitation go unreported or undetected, community intelligence helps to identify hidden victims, sport underreported trends and challenge stereotypes and assumptions.

• Mandatory training for frontline staff

NICE guidelines (e.g. NG55) and the Tackling Child Exploitation Programme recommend trauma-informed, inclusive training for all professionals—not just those in social care.

• Community engagement campaigns

Campaigns like #LookCloser (The Children’s Society) and Operation Artemis show that public awareness can lead to increased reporting and earlier intervention.

• Survivor-informed training resources

Co-production with young people aligns with the TCE Practice Principles, which advocate for youth voice and lived experience in shaping services.

• Safeguarding champions

Embedding champions in schools and community settings is a proven model for improving safeguarding culture and responsiveness.

Strategic Issue 3

What needs to be done

Improving reporting and recognition among minority and marginalised groups.

• Targeted outreach to underrepresented groups: Develop culturally competent services for ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ youth, and Gypsy/Roma/Traveller communities and partner with community organisations and faith groups.
• Embed contextual safeguarding in all services: Ensure professionals consider peer relationships, online environments, and community contexts—not just family settings.
• Improve referral pathways for boys and SEND children: Train professionals to recognise non-traditional indicators of exploitation and ensure services are accessible and inclusive.
• Develop peer-led and youth-informed interventions: Support youth-led advocacy, mentoring, and education programmes and fund safe spaces for young people to access support without stigma.
• Ethnicity and vulnerability data: Disaggregated data to identify disproportionality in referrals or outcomes
• Community partnerships: Trusted community-led organisations involved in safeguarding strategy.

Why

• Targeted outreach to underrepresented groups: Research from the Children’s Society, IICSA, and Home Office shows that ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ youth, and SEND children are under-identified and underserved.
• Contextual safeguarding approaches: The TCE Programme and Hartlepool’s HOTH model promote safeguarding beyond the family setting—addressing peer, school, and community contexts.
• Improved referral pathways: Evidence from Barnardo’s and The British Journal of Criminology shows boys and SEND children are often missed due to stereotypes and lack of professional awareness.
• Peer-led and youth-informed interventions: Youth-led models foster trust and engagement, especially among those who distrust institutions. This is supported by Child of the North and TCE Programme findings.
• Ethnicity and vulnerability data: Data to identify hidden inequalities, challenges bias and highlights intersectional risks which supports informed practice. This improves targeted safeguarding to design culturally competent interventions, allocation of resources to underserved communities and trains staff to recognise exploitation in diverse contexts. Data allows agencies to monitor equity in safeguarding responses to identify gaps in service provision and barriers to access.
• Community-led organisations provide local insight which is key to tailoring strategy to the local area.