Child criminal exploitation (CCE) has become one of the most prevalent forms of modern slavery affecting children in the UK, with predominantly young people - particularly teenagers (although referrals at primary school age have increased) - coerced into criminal activity for the benefit of others. The rapid expansion of digital platforms has opened new pathways for perpetrators to contact, and groom children; and there are major gaps in knowledge about how child criminal exploitation manifests online.
This exploratory research project seeks to address these gaps by generating new insights into where and how children in the UK are recruited via digital platforms into criminal exploitation, the harms involved and identifying potential mitigating measures such platforms can take.
The six-month project focuses on children under the age of 18 in the UK and digital environments including social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms and online forums, to explore which features of digital spaces may facilitate recruitment, how perpetrators operate, and the vulnerabilities of the children affected or at risk. It will also explore how and to what extent child criminal exploitation online is considered by current relevant legal and policy frameworks. Finally, it will seek to identify promising examples of prevention strategies with potential to reduce online risks.
The work is led by Dr Anna Skeels (Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s Social Science Research Park - SPARK), working with Hannah Stott (Safe to Grow) and in partnership with Barnardo’s National Counter Trafficking Centre (NCTC) and the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship (ICTG) service. The team will use a predominantly qualitative approach centred on a rapid realist review, a form of literature review that lends itself to policy impact, focusing on what is happening for whom, where, under what circumstances and with what results. The review will be supported by desk-based legal and policy analysis, early engagement with the Modern Slavery PEC’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel and semi‑structured online interviews with UK practitioners, all with expertise in working with children and young people affected by criminal exploitation in the UK.
By synthesising evidence across research, professional expertise and lived experience, they aim to produce practical, context-sensitive learning and recommendations. These will support policymakers, practitioners and digital platforms in tackling online routes into child criminal exploitation.
Longer-term research involving meaningful participation of children and young people at risk of or recruited into and affected by child criminal exploitation online remains essential. The project team hopes that their findings from this short study will help to encourage and support further research into child criminal exploitation online, and contribute towards the impetus for a complete and survivor-centred investigation into this critical evidence gap.
Project team: Dr Anna Skeels (Research Fellow, SPARK, Cardiff University), working with Hannah Stott from Safe to Grow and in partnership with Barnardo’s NCTC and ICTG service and with support from the Modern Slavery PEC’s Research, Policy Impact and Lived Experience teams.
The project is commissioned by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
