Exploiting children during school holidays has become ‘too easy’, former Children’s Commissioner warns

It comes after the children’s charity Barnardo’s said it was concerned that many children, who are being targeted by sexual predators or other criminals, are “invisible” during the holidays, when they spend less time with trusted adults and many working parents are unable to watch over them or afford activities and holiday clubs.

And after obtaining figures from police forces across the country, the charity published a reported which revealed the number of reported incidents falls during months when there are school holidays of two weeks or longer.

Ms Longfield, who is from Otley, said more government funding is needed to “fill our communities with great things to do in school holidays”, especially in areas which are hotspots for violence and drug abuse, as children are safer when they have access to affordable holiday clubs and other activities.

“For those looking to exploit young people, there's no point in going to a sports centre where they're surrounded by other children and sports coaches and they're having a great time,” she said.

“They'll go to places where there's nothing for those kids to do; where they haven't got opportunities to meet up with their friends and they're probably feeling quite isolated and anxious.”

She said well-organised drug gangs are always need more young people to work for them, so they invest a lot of time, effort and energy into recruitment.

Jason Flemyng, an award-winning actor and Barnardo’s ambassador, said it is “very frustrating” to see that children across the country have become more vulnerable to exploitation because youth clubs and other facilities have been shut down in recent years.

"We’ve all got an obligation to watch out for kids during the long hot summer because they’re a victim of boredom and there are a lack of facilities where it’s safe for them to be,” he said.

“We're all one step away from making a very bad decision and that's classless. It doesn't matter whether you are affluent or whether you are really suffering under the current financial crisis.”

The Barnardo's report stated that free and affordable holiday activities and youth clubs “are few and far between across the UK”, as government funding for youth services has been cut by £1.1bn since 2010/11.

The report also shows social workers across the country identified 16,330 cases of sexual exploitation and 10,140 cases of criminal exploitation in 2021/22.

It comes as Ms Longfield has been telling the Government that urgent action is needed to fix the system that is “completely failing” to protect children, from walks of life, from falling into the clutches of violent drug gangs.

She chairs the Commission on Young Lives, which found children as young as nine are being groomed with promises of attention and gifts, before being forced to sell drugs and commit violent acts.

Overstretched social workers and other safeguarding experts often fail to stop this exploitation as they respond too slowly and conduct a series of tick-box exercises instead of forming lasting relationships with the children, the commission said.

It has made a number of recommendations, which include setting up 1,000 new Sure Start Plus Hubs, which offer support to vulnerable teenagers, recruiting “an army” of around 10,000 youth practitioners and investing £1bn in children and young people’s stretched mental health services.

All school buildings should be kept open at weekends and during holidays, with youth practitioners and volunteers on site, to ensure teenagers always have a safe place to go, the commission added.