Child Exploitation information for professionals

Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships (NSCP/NCSCP) are committed to preventing and protecting children and young people from exploitation. Child exploitation includes child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, radicalisation, modern slavery, human trafficking and honour-based violence. We recognise that identifying, understanding, tackling and preventing the exploitation of children is a complex task that requires a co-ordinated and collaborative approach from partners, children and young people and their families, and communities.

All partners understand that anyone under 18yrs facing these harms or causing harm to others due to the impact of child exploitation, must be seen and treated as children and young people first and foremost.

Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council’s Child Exploitation Strategy 2024-26 sets out how we will tackle child exploitation based under the 4 P’s, Prepare, Prevent, Protect Pursue: Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City Partnership Child Exploitation Strategy 2024.pdf

Signs and indicators of child exploitation

Some potential indicators of child exploitation are listed below:

Grooming/coercion

• Involved in dangerous and/or offending behaviour
• Threats of harm/actual harm to child and/or family
• Excessive receipt of texts/phone calls and/or having multiple handsets
• Receiving or sharing explicit or harmful material
• Inappropriate sexual knowledge and/or reports of sexual harm
• Travelling/being transported: unexpectedly, secretly, regularly to unknown addresses, out of area, in taxis, on trains, private cars
• Suspected drug related activity and found with drugs, scales, money
• Carrying/using weapons
• Sudden changes in friendships or associates, particualrly with controlling/older individuals or groups
• Gang association or isolation from peers or social networks
•      Arrested, linked to County Lines/drug debts or found in cuckooed properties

Changes in behaviour

• Going missing from home, care or school and/or being found out-of-area
• Unexplained acquisition of money, clothes, or mobile phones
• Withdrawal; becoming secretive, distant, or avoiding social interactions and activities
• Self-harm or significant changes in emotional well-being
•      Offending behaviour including antisocial behaviour

Social media and technology

• Secretive online communication/hiding online interactions and activities
• Excessive online presence: spending excessive time on social media or devices; multiple online identities
• Online contact with individuals of concern: forming connections with individuals resulting from grooming
•      Use of the dark web: knowledge of/accessing/trading

Health implications

• Self-care: neglecting personal hygiene, nutrition, or health maintenance
• Mental health issues: emotional distress, anxiety, depression, self-harm
• Drug and alcohol use: substance misuse as a coping mechanism
• Unexplained injuries: unexplained cuts, bruises, or other physical harm
•      Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): health issues that may indicate concerning sexual activity

More information

Download local interagency guidance:

• Child Criminal Exploitation
• Child Sexual Exploitation
• Children Missing from home and care

Appropriate language guide about child exploitation

This language guide helps us to think seriously about the way in which we talk about or describe the impact of child exploitation. Our language will be right when we see a child as a child first, and when we understand the lived experiences of children who have been harmed by those who seek to exploit them.

• Appropriate Language Guide Final English

Child exploitation risk assessment tool

If you suspect that a child you are working with is being exploited, then consider downloading and using the following toolkit to evaluate the level and extent of harm. You could do this on your own or with the team around the child. This will help those who know and support the child to consider the child’s need for protection and develop plans to prevent exploitation. You could attach this toolkit to any referral you consider necessary to the local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Children Hub (City MASH)

Safeguarding children from Exploitation

Reporting concerns about child exploitation

Nottinghamshire Police

If you are a victim of child abuse including child exploitation, or worried for the safety or wellbeing of a child, find out different ways you can get in touch: How to report possible child abuse | Nottinghamshire Police

Nottingham City Safeguarding Children Partnership

If you are worried that a child is at risk of abuse, then please follow this link to report your concerns to the Local Authority:

Multi-Agency Safeguarding Children Hub (City MASH)

Extra-familial risks and harms (harm that occurs outside of the family unit)

Child exploitation, peer abuse, weapon-enabled violence, and other forms of extra-familial risk and harms are having a devastating effect on the welfare of children and young people. Those who groom, coerce and control children and young people outside of their family units for the purposes of exploitation expose them to violence and/or abuse. These threats can take a variety of different forms and children can be vulnerable to multiple threats, including exploitation by criminal gangs and organised crime groups such as county lines, knife crime, youth violence, trafficking, online abuse, sexual exploitation and the influences of extremism leading to radicalisation.

Child exploitation and online protection command (CEOP)

The National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) (formerly the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) works with child protection partners across the UK and overseas to identify the main threats to children and coordinates activity against these threats to bring offenders to account. They protect children from harm online and offline, directly through NCA led operations and in partnership with local and international agencies. 

Child Exploitation (CE) Concerns Network (Operation Striver)

Nottinghamshire Police have a mechanism to improve the sharing of low-level non-emergency intelligence concerning child exploitation between partner agencies in Nottinghamshire. An Operation Striver information sheet [Word] has been developed to record information that relates to people, places, activities, or vehicles which may be involved with or connected to CE. Once completed the information sheet should be sent via secure email to cnm@notts.police.uk.

Please note that this process does not replace the requirement to refer crimes or child specific concern under the inter-agency safeguarding children procedures to children’s social care or the police and that any immediate risks should be reported via 999 or 101 to the police control room.

The information provided will contribute towards the collation of intelligence regarding children and young people exposed to or at risk of CE, the development of disruption strategies and inform current and future investigations concerning the exploitation of children and young people. 

County Lines

County Lines is the term used to describe urban gangs supplying drugs to suburban areas, as well as market and coastal towns, by using dedicated mobile phone lines or “deal lines”. Gangs use children and vulnerable people to move drugs and money to these areas. Once caught up in County Lines, exploited individuals are at risk of extreme physical and/or sexual violence, gang recriminations and trafficking.

The Home Office have produced a Partners Pack [PDF] to help raise awareness. Download Local interagency guidance Child Criminal Exploitation (proceduresonline.com) covering criminal exploitation. 

EMCYPSAS - East Midlands Children and Young People's Sexual Assault Service

EMCYPSAS provides medical care and holistic assessment following sexual abuse for children and young people up to the age of 18 years, or up to 24 years of age if a young adult has a learning disability. It offers comprehensive services from initial medical examination through to follow-up care and therapeutic support. The service runs from two centres in Nottingham and Northampton. Anyone can make a referral and the service accepts referrals 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, including bank and public holidays. 

The single point of access is: 0800 183 0023

This is the channel to get the right help for children and young people at the right time. The advisor can offer you advice, or can guide you through the referral process, taking account of the referral pathway and local safeguarding procedures. 

• Find more information about EMCYPSAS