The Children's Society Prevention Programme: 2023–2025 Evaluation Report
The Children's Society recently published a 2023 – 2025 evaluation report (the “Report”) of its Prevention Programme, a Home Office-funded initiative working across England and Wales to prevent child exploitation (the “Programme”). The Programme aims to support professionals in better identifying and responding to such exploitation.
Details
Key Report Findings
During the evaluation period (April 2023 and March 2025), the Programme:
- achieved approximately 680,000 first-hand engagements, with Police being the most commonly engaged sector partners[1]; and
- completed 730 tasks, with 59% focused on systems change initiatives[2].
Co-delivery with partners (including police forces, social care teams, and youth justice teams) ensured that the Programme reached into statutory safeguarding structures. A notable example in the Report was the #LookCloser campaign, where over 90% of participants in the related learning sessions reported improved confidence in identifying exploitation[3].
Commentary
Responses in a survey used to prepare the Report raised concerns about biases leading to children not being recognised as victims – especially the adultification of children. Of note, a Police MACE Coordinator observed that police forces are ‘not well versed in correctly identifying child exploitation’ consistent with Modern Slavery Act 2015 offences, and ‘do not act on risk indicators’, with the result that ‘children remain in harmful and traumatic situations or are dealt with for criminal actions that they have been compelled or convinced into committing’[4].
The hope is that participation in future Programme activities (such as #LookCloser) will encourage increased use of legal tools: participants engaged in the preparation of the Report noted that intended changes should lead to more National Referral Mechanism referrals[5]. As such, when working with children in England & Wales, it may be helpful for practitioners to enquire whether local authorities and youth offending teams in the relevant locales have engaged with the Programme, as disclosure of relevant assessments or training may support arguments regarding a child's exploitation[6].
Footnotes
[1] Section 3.1 (The 2023-25 Prevention Programme in numbers) – the Report]
[2] Section 3.1 (The 2023-25 Prevention Programme in numbers) – the Report]
[3] Sections 1 (Executive Summary) and 3.5 (How #LookCloser is contributing to Programme outcomes (1)) – the Report]
[4] Section 3.5 (How #LookCloser is contributing to Programme outcomes (2)) – the Report]
[5] Section 3.5 (How #LookCloser is contributing to Programme outcomes (2)) – the Report]
[6] Non-prosecution of victims of trafficking remains central when representing exploited children. See Section 45(4) Modern Slavery Act 2015, discussed further in the YJLC’s “Statutory defence for child victims of trafficking and slavery – section 45 Modern Slavery Act 2015” resource.]