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Tameside Safeguarding Children Partnership

Child Sexual Exploitation


What is Child Sexual Exploitation?

CSE is a form of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator. The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

Department of Education, 2017 Definition of Child Sexual Exploitation:

  • can affect any child or young person (male or female) under the age of 18 years, including 16- and 17-year-olds who can legally consent to have sex. 
  • can still be abuse even if the sexual activity appears consensual. 
  • can include both contact (penetrative and non-penetrative acts) and noncontact sexual activity. 
  • can take place in person or via technology, or a combination of both. 
  • can involve force and/or enticement-based methods of compliance and may, or may not, be accompanied by violence or threats of violence.
  • may occur without the child or young person’s immediate knowledge (through others copying videos or images they have created and posting on social media, for example); 
  • can be perpetrated by individuals or groups, males or females, and children or adults. The abuse can be a one-off occurrence or a series of incidents over time, and range from opportunistic to complex organised abuse
  • is typified by some form of power imbalance in favour of those perpetrating the abuse. Whilst age may be the most obvious, this power imbalance can also be due to a range of other factors including gender, sexual identity, cognitive ability, physical strength, status, and access to economic or other resources.

Tameside has a multi-agency approach to Complex Safeguarding and works in partnership with Tameside Safeguarding Children Partnership, Tameside Safeguarding Adults Board and the Community Safety Partnership to ensure children and vulnerable adults are protected and supported.

The website It's not okay aims to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation. The website gives information about CSE, advice and support, contact information for specialist teams in Greater Manchester, information about how to report CSE and a suite of posters and leaflets to support the campaign.


Child Sexual Exploitation Resources

 

SEXTORTION – WHAT IS IT?

Sextortion describes the crime of threatening to share or distribute intimate images of another person unless the victim does what the perpetrator demands. Perpetrators might ask for the images, record the victim without knowing or create images of them using AI (Artificial Intelligence).

While other terms are better, “sextortion” is more widely recognised. A better phrase would be the “online sexual coercion and extortion of children”.

Sextortion is illegal and often, but not always carried out by criminal gangs. These perpetrators prey on victims’ feelings of distress to get what they want. The act of sextortion is meant to intimidate victims and influence them to do what they don’t want to.

Anyone can be a victim of sextortion. However, young people aged between 15 to 17, and adults aged under 30 are often most at risk.

What are the vulnerability factors?


RISK INDECATORS -KNOW THE SIGNS


How can we help?

Remember that:

  • Children do not always realise they are being exploited
  • Children may find it difficult to say they are a victim of exploitation, especially if they have been coerced into criminal acts
  • Signs of exploitation or grooming can be presented differently
  • Vulnerable children are often isolated from the mainstream
  • Practitioners and children may have barriers to communication
  • Professionals may focus on the criminal activity or the child’s ‘life-style choices’ rather than seeing the exploitation of a child

Child Exploitation is a form of Modern Slavery. This is an umbrella term used to describe criminal offences of human trafficking, slavery, forced labour and domestic servitude. 

Slavery-like practices include debt bondage, sale or exploitation of children and forced marriage.

While varied in nature, all involve one person depriving another person of their liberty, in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. We can submit a national referral mechanism for young people believed to be impacted by modern day slavery.

NCLCC - National Referral Mechanism - Awareness Video


Useful resources:

Real Knives Real Lives – YouTube

County Lines – YouTube

Grooming: recognising the signs | NSPCC Learning

Child exploitation disruption toolkit (publishing.service.gov.uk)

County Lines & Child Exploitation | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

CCE-Stages-of-recruitment.pdf (safeguarding.network)

Defining Child Criminal Exploitation | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

CSE Toolkit For Professionals | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

Capturing Intelligence | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

County Lines Toolkit For Professionals | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)


What is Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking?

Modern Slavery is the term used within the UK and is defined within the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Act categorises offences of Slavery, Servitude and Forced or Compulsory Labour and Human Trafficking. These crimes include holding a person in a position of slavery, servitude forced or compulsory labour or facilitating their travel with the intention of exploiting them soon after. Although human trafficking often involves an international cross-border element, it is also possible to be a victim of modern slavery within your own country. It is possible to be a victim even if consent has been given to be moved. Children cannot give consent to being exploited therefore the element of coercion or deception does not need to be present to prove an offence.

Under the Modern Slavery Act (2015) all children identified as potentially trafficked within Greater Manchester must be referred into the National Referral Mechanism and to the Barnardo’s ICTA Service; this would include:

  • Young people who have been trafficked to the UK from abroad
  • Young people trafficked for the purposes of exploitation through CSE
  • Young people trafficked for the purposes of exploitation through criminal activity
  • Young people who are identified as potentially trafficked and are currently missing

ICTA workers provide support for any young person aged under 18; they will work with young people while a decision is being made under the NRM process and on an ongoing basis if they receive a conclusive grounds decision regarding their trafficking status.

If you are concerned about a child being trafficked you can make a referral via the following link GOV.uk page on child trafficking advocates. You can also contact our 24/7 support line on 0800 043 4303 to talk through the concerns you have before putting in a referral.


Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Training & Resources