Parents and people who work with children will soon be offered new guidance to help spot the “red flags” that children are being groomed or abused online.

Councillors spoke of the “worrying” rise in cyber crime involving children and vulnerable adults at a meeting of Bradford Council’s Executive on Tuesday.

They heard that the online world was one that older generations may be unfamiliar with – but it was important that parents, teachers and social workers are able to spot if a child is being exploited online.

At its first meeting of the year, the Executive were given an update from the Bradford District Safeguarding Children Partnership on what was being done to protect vulnerable young people.

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It referred to work by West Yorkshire Police’s cyber team – set up in 2015 to deal with people who target children online.

The team has dealt with 220 offenders in Bradford in the past year alone.

The report said the issue: “Has been the subject of increased concern when the district was in increased lockdown due to Covid-19, where children isolated at home are at an even higher risk of being targeted by online groomers for abuse.”

After hearing the report Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: “I’m worried about the rise in cyber-crime. It is really concerning.”

Heather Wilson, of Bradford’s youth service, said: “There is an online world out there that is not understood by a lot of people.

“You have things like loot boxes that can lead to people being financially exploited, and young people can befriend people online. It is a world that is unknown by a lot of people, so they don’t know how to spot the red flags.”

She said the team had recently rolled out training to allow people to spot the signs of young people being criminally exploited.

Similar training would soon be rolled out to help people spot the signs that young people were being groomed or exploited online.

Cllr Hinchliffe added: “It is concerning for parents – it is a world they weren’t brought up with. You can now make friends online through games, but you don’t know who these people really are. It is scary for parents to think about that.”

Councillor Sue Duffy , Executive for Children and Families, added: “It is a cause for concern. As an older person I share a lot of the worries of parents.”

Members heard that children’s charity Barnardo’s had issued national guidance to help people spot the signs that young people are being abused online.

Cllr Hinchliffe asked if that guidance could be issued as a press release.

Surge in cyber crime involving children in Yorkshire as new guidance offered