Children arrested for sexual offences at a ten-year high 

The number of children arrested for sexual offences has reached a ten-year high, new analysis of government data by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) shows.  

The findings reinforce the charity’s call for more effective support in schools to challenge harmful sexual behaviours and attitudes, alongside its investment in evaluating approaches to find out what works to prevent them.

The analysis is published in YEF’s new Beyond the Headlines report, which tracks key trends in violence affecting children and young people.  

In 2024/25, the latest full year for which data is available, 3,809 children aged 10 to 17 in England and Wales were arrested for sexual offences — an 18% increase on the previous year and 12% higher than a decade before. Arrests have increased every year since reaching a ten-year low of 1,979 during the pandemic in 2020/21. Boys accounted for almost all children arrested for sexual offences over that period, making up 98% of arrests across the past decade.  

The increase may reflect more children committing sexual offences, but it may also reflect greater awareness of sexual abuse, with more victims recognising harm, coming forward to report their experiences, and more reports being acted on by police.  

Jess Southgate, Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Lead at the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “The rise in arrests for sexual offences by children is deeply concerning. Whether it reflects more offending, more victims coming forward, or both, what’s clear is that more work is needed to prevent these harms from happening. Both girls and boys need the skills and confidence to build healthy and respectful relationships, as well as the right support and responses when they experience or cause harm.” 

Tech-enabled abuse increases  

Beyond arrests, data on cautions and convictions of children point to a similar pattern of harm. The number of children cautioned or convicted for indecent image offences — including the taking, possession or distribution of sexual images of children — has increased over the past decade. In 2024/25, the figure was 42% higher than in 2014/15.  

Separate analysis of these offences, by the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP), shows that the majority involve so-called ‘self-generated’ indecent images shared between children online. 

Other forms of serious violence fall  

The rise in arrests for sexual offences stands in contrast to wider falls in serious violence affecting children and young people. 

In the year ending 2024/25, there were 63 homicide victims aged 16–24, the lowest figure in over a decade and down from 106 the year before. A similar pattern is seen in the number of children, aged 0-17, admitted to hospital following knife assaults. It fell to 409 in 2024/25, down 100 from the previous year. The number of 10–17-year-olds cautioned or convicted for violent offences also fell over the same period – 3% from the previous year. This is down 10% compared with the year before Covid (2019/20), and down 24% compared with a decade earlier (2014/15). 

Prevention through healthy relationships education 

International evidence shows that high-quality lessons and activities on relationship violence prevention can reduce involvement in relationship violence by an average of 17%. But there are significant gaps in the evidence on the best ways of doing this and on evidence from the UK. 

To fill these evidence gaps, the Youth Endowment Fund has partnered with the Department for Education and the Home Office to fund and evaluate prevention services in schools. Government funding is available to help secondary schools promote healthy and respectful relationships and to provide targeted support in education settings for children displaying inappropriate attitudes and behaviours around gender norms and relationships. 

The funding aligns with Freedom from violence and abuse – the cross-government strategy to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, in particular its focus on prevention and early intervention to tackle the root causes of abuse. The funding also supports the rollout of the revised statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, effective from September 2026. 

Jess Southgate said: “Recent falls in the number of children losing their lives or being seriously harmed by violence show that violence is preventable. We need the same focus on prevention and early intervention to address the growing challenge of sexual harm and relationship violence among children.  

“Schools have a critical role to play in helping children develop the skills and confidence to build healthy, equal and respectful relationships. Our partnership with the Department for Education and the Home Office will help expand access to evidence-based support, giving schools the tools they need to prevent harm before it occurs.” 

Download Beyond the Headlines 

The YEF’s annual Beyond the Headlines report looks at key trends and data on violence affecting children and young people. It uses 11 indicators to track whether things are getting better or worse, and how well the systems that matter most for supporting children and young people are performing.