The NSPCC has published a comprehensive overview and analysis of the available child protection data for each of the four nations in the UK for 2018.
The 2018 ‘How safe are our children?’ report sets out current and historical data on 20 different indicators and finds that there has been an increase in police-recorded child sexual offences across the UK and in child cruelty and neglect offences in all UK nations except Scotland, as well as an increase in the number of children on child protection plans and registers.
This year’s report also takes a closer look at how safe children are online and shows that almost a quarter of young people have been contacted online by an adult they did not know, and that over 3,000 crimes have been recorded by the police since the offence of communicating indecently with a child was introduced in England and Wales in April 2017.
More information and a link to the 2018 report are provided on the NSPCC website