Children, violence and vulnerability 2026

The changing scale of violence affecting children

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This first report looks at the changing scale of violence: how many children are affected by violence and how this has changed; which children are most affected; and how many appear to be fixated on violence. 

Fewer teenage children are being affected by violence. 

Across every measure in our survey, fewer teenage children told us they had experienced violence this year compared to the year before. 13% of 13–17-year-olds said they had been a victim of violence in the past 12 months, down from 18% in 2025, and 8.7% said they had carried out violence themselves, down from 13%. 42% had witnessed violence happen to another person, down from 50%. 

The falls were largest for the most serious forms of violence. This year, 3.1% of 13–17-year-olds had been a victim of violence that required treatment from a doctor or at a hospital, down from 5.2% last year, and 1.8% had injured someone badly enough that their victim needed treatment, down from 3.3%. 

Fewer children were carrying weapons, and fewer were being drawn towards criminal exploitation compared to last year as well: 1.5% said they had carried a weapon in the past year, down from 2.1%, and 6.8% had been approached to sell, store or transport drugs, money or weapons, down from 12%. Fewer children had frequently gone missing from home overnight (3.0% compared to 4.6% last year) and 1.4% said they had been in a ‘gang’, down from 2.4%. 

But the most vulnerable are still disproportionately affected.

Despite the falls, violence remains heavily concentrated in a small group of children. Those who said they’d been in a ‘gang’ in the past year – 1.4% of 13–17-year-olds – were the most affected.

Among children who had been criminally exploited into selling, transporting or storing drugs, weapons or money for someone else, 43% had perpetrated serious violence. 

Teenage children in contact with the justice system, children facing difficulty at home and children struggling with their own mental health also remained significantly more likely to experience violence than the average teenager. Two in five (40%) of those who had been taken to court or convicted had perpetrated serious violence, as had 13% of those experiencing verbal or physical abuse from a parent or caregiver and 8.3% of those whose primary caregiver had been diagnosed with a mental health condition in the past year. Four in five (80%) of the children who caused serious injuries had hurt themselves on purpose or thought about suicide. 

Many teens think about violence, but a few appear to be fixated on it. 

For the first time this year, we asked children whether and how often they had looked for information about real-world attacks or attackers, thought about committing violence themselves, shared violent thoughts or fantasies with other people, or spent time in online communities built around violence or hatred. This is the first attempt we’re aware of to measure how many children in England and Wales are doing things that could indicate a fixation on violence. 

Children showing this interest in or fixation on violence were far more likely to have been involved in violence than their peers. Nearly a third (32%) of those engaging in these behaviours daily or nearly every day had perpetrated serious violence requiring medical treatment by a doctor or at a hospital in the past 12 months, 18 times the rate for all 13–17-year-olds (1.8%). Similarly, 30% had been victims of serious violence themselves.  

However, it’s important to note that most children engaging in ‘violence-fixated’ behaviours hadn’t actually perpetrated serious violence.

How can we protect children from violence? 

The year-on-year fall in children experiencing violence is encouraging. To build on this progress means continuing to invest in evidence-backed prevention and providing more intensive support for children who are most vulnerable. 

Our guidance for education leaders, children’s services, the youth sector, youth justice and police forces sets out practical, evidence-backed steps to help. This includes making sure children can access trusted adults who can build meaningful, sustained relationships with them through mentoring and positive activities. It means proactively safeguarding children in care from violence. It means strengthening youth workers’ role in multi-agency responses to extra-familial harm. For police and youth justice services, it includes building effective and fair approaches to out-of-court resolutions. 

Across all sectors, the priority is clear: put evidence into practice and focus resources where they can make the greatest difference. This can help sustain the progress we have seen and move us closer to a world where no child or young person becomes involved in violence.