child Holding hands

Child Sexual Exploitation

The measure has the aim that the vulnerability of children to CSE should mostly be managed within the authority at medium or low levels of risk.  
High Risk: Screening and risk assessment indicates evidence that the child is actively being sexually abused. Will require a Children’s Social care intervention.
Medium Risk: Screening and risk assessment indicates evidence that the child may be being sexually abused or at significant risk of exploitation. Will require a Social worker or named lead professional.
Low risk: Screening and risk assessment indicates evidence that the child may be vulnerable to exploitation and sexual abuse. Will need a named lead professional. 

December 2020 performance

At the end of December 2020 there were 5 children who were being overseen by the Complex Safeguarding Missing and Exploitation Group because they had been exploited. All 5 were victims of child criminal exploitation. None were victims of child sexual exploitation. There were a further 82 children who were managed at a local level as there were indicators of exploitation and all these had professional social work or Early-Help safeguarding intervention.
Children's Social Care and Integrated prevention and Earliest Help Services, Police, Education and Health partners work collectively to ensure that we are assessing the risk of child sexual exploitation based on all information available, enabling us to ensure that timely actions are undertaken to reduce these risks and increase safety. All agencies meet regularly to ensure that actions are undertaken to reduce the risks posed to children through exploitation.
Our Multi-Agency Missing and Exploitation Group reviews the level of risk, safety plans and interventions in place and seeks to to consider the best use of contextual safeguarding, making key links between individual vulnerable children and groups of children, and identifying where specialist interventions are appropriate.