Reports of child abuse soar during lockdown
REPORTS made to Childline of youngsters being abused at home have tripled during lockdown, a new report by the NSPCC into the impact of the pandemic reveals today.
Some children told Childline, which provides counselling and support, that sexual abuse had become more frequent during lockdown as they were spending more time with their abuser.
The report, titled ‘the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on child welfare: sexual abuse,’ shows an average of 23 contacts to Childline per week about child sexual abuse in the home, up threefold since March 23 when lockdown was announced.
The revelation comes as separate figures collated by the NSPCC showed a 75 per cent increase in reports made to police forces across the north west of children being abused.
But it appears the pandemic, and the resulting lockdown and closure of schools, has forced some children closer to their abusers within families or has prompted them to seek help for abuse which happened some time ago. A third of counselling sessions were about abuse in the family that happened over a year ago, with many children talking about it for the first time. Reports of abuse against children across the north west have rocketed over the last five years, according to new figures from the NSPCC. Police forces across the region recorded an average of 12 child sex offences every day last year.
The figures reveal 4,401 recorded offences including rape, online grooming and sexual assault against children in the north west in 2019/20 – up nearly 75 per cent in the five years since 2014/15. The 2019/20 figure would have been much higher had Greater Manchester Police been able to provide the NSPCC with its figure. The force has struggled to provide accurate crime data following the implementation of a new computer system, iOPS. In the UK, there were 73,518 such offences recorded in 2019/20 – up 57pc in the same period.
It represents almost 200 offences against children across the UK every day last year, with girls four times more likely than boys to be victims. The figures also reveal 12,374 sex crimes recorded against children under 10, while 449 offences were recorded against babies.
The NSPCC said the figures – obtained from police forces via the Freedom of Information Act – show the need for national leadership in response and urged the Home Office to publish and implement its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy first trumpeted by the then home secretary Sajid Javid more than a year ago.
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: “The crisis of child sexual abuse is not going away and behind these figures are thousands of children and young people who have reported crimes that can have a devastating impact on their lives. Urgent action is needed to prevent abuse and to ensure children are supported to recover when they bravely speak out.”
The NSPCC wants the anticipated Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy to bring government departments, including the Home Office, Department for Education and Ministry of Justice, together to join up efforts to prevent sexual abuse across society.
Anyone concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000. Adult victims of nonrecent sexual abuse can also get in touch for support. Childline is available for young people on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk ●
The crisis of child sexual abuse is not going away NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless
BORIS JOHNSON has been urged to boost coronavirus testing and tracing in order to safely reopen schools to all pupils without needing to impose further restrictions on businesses or social lives.
The Prime Minister said it is the “national priority” to get children back in class in England next month, but he has been warned by scientific advisers that “tradeoffs” may be necessary to keep transmission down. Mr Johnson is understood to favour forcing pubs, restaurants and shops to shut ahead of schools in the event of severe local Covid-19 flare-ups.
But Government advisers, opposition politicians, teachers and the children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield have all called for improvements to testing before pupils return in September.
Their calls came as the Prime Minister wrote in the Mail on Sunday that “we have a moral duty” to reopen schools to all pupils after months without in-person education for most children.
He warned of the “spiralling economic costs” of parents and carers being unable to work, adding: “Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”
The Prime Minister was also keen to stress the potential damage to children’s health if they do not return and that the virus presents only a very low threat of making them seriously ill, amid concerns parents may not feel comfortable sending them back during the pandemic.
Ms Longfield welcomed the commitment to make children the priority after previously accusing ministers of treating them as “an afterthought”.
But she said regular testing of pupils and teachers, perhaps as frequently as weekly, could be needed even if they do not exhibit symptoms. “I think it needs to be as regular as it needs to be, to ensure that the infection is caught and identified as quickly as possible and then the tracking system can move on from that,” she told Times Radio.
Schools minister Nick Gibb did not support the call, saying: “All the advice we’ve had is the measures that we’re putting in place, the hierarchy of controls about hygiene and so on and bubbles within schools, is the most effective method of reducing the risk of transmission of the virus.”
Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, who is advising the Government’s coronavirus response, said the “brief window” before schools reopen must be “used wisely” otherwise new restrictions will be needed.
He wrote in the Observer: “Most urgently, we need to ramp up testing. We are not where we need to be. We must improve contact tracing, so we’re identifying more cases and providing better, faster data locally.
“If we don’t, we may not be able to reopen schools without introducing new restrictions elsewhere. These are the tradeoffs we face – if we do not act now.”