Child Criminal Exploitation

The Home Office defines Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) as:

Child Criminal Exploitation occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or (c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual.

Child Criminal Exploitation is broader than just county lines and includes for instance children forced to work on cannabis farms, to commit theft, shoplift or pickpocket, or to threaten other young people.

Currently there is no statutory definition for Child Criminal Exploitation. However, it is covered within the Modern Slavery Act 2015 which sets out the offences of slavery, servitude and forced and compulsory labour in section 1, and human trafficking in section 2. Potential victims can be exploited in a number of ways, including sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and criminal exploitation. Children may be forced to work in cannabis factories, move drugs, money or weapons across county lines or within their locality, launder money through their bank accounts or carry out crimes of theft or violence, particularly against other young people.

See: Children from Abroad, including Victims of Modern Slavery, Trafficking and Exploitation Procedure for details of the National Referral Mechanism, which is the framework for identifying and supporting victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

County lines is a form of Child Criminal Exploitation. It is a term used to describe the activities of gangs and organised criminal networks who are involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas (within the UK), using dedicated mobile phone lines or other forms of "deal line". These gangs are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move (and store) the drugs and money, and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons (County lines: criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults). This activity can happen locally as well as across the UK; no specified distance of travel is required.

The adults running these networks remain at a distance from the frontline activity of drug dealing, reducing the risk of being caught and instead - they exploit vulnerable children who are at high risk of significant harm transporting and selling drugs, often many miles from home. Some children are forced to carry the drugs in harmful ways that are abusive and could result in their death. For example, 'plugging' also known as ‘abusive concealment’ is commonly used, which is when children can be forced to insert and carry drugs in their rectum or vagina.

Children may be sent to another area of the country to live with a vulnerable adult whose home has been taken over by the gang in exchange for a continued supply of drugs. This is known as 'cuckooing' or ‘home takeover’. These environments are extremely dangerous for children who face the risk of violence from their exploiters and / or the drug users who have been cuckooed, as well as from an unsafe physical environment featuring toxic substances and used needles. Other dealers in the area may also target these children to prevent them taking over their 'territory' - exposing them to the risk of more violence. 

County lines activity is dynamic, and perpetrators will change their methods of exploitation quickly. As professionals become more responsive to identifying children at risk, criminals adapt their tactics. This may be by targeting new groups of children to exploit to avoid detection or manipulating/coercing children within the local area and hence avoid the risk of them being identified when travelling. As a result, a child who is exploited can leave their home or care placement in the morning, manipulated to sell drugs and return the same day and so avoid being reported missing from home.

Perpetrators frequently use extreme violence and intimidation to control exploited children in county lines operations. Exploiters can groom and manipulate children and young people into criminal activity within days or weeks, often before parents or professionals realise what is happening.

Initially they may be trusted with small or 'minor' tasks that may seem inconsequential to the child but which lead to a rapid escalation in demand and risk. Although the risk to the child is already present, at this point they are often unaware and may begin to believe that they have the trust and respect of their 'elders'.

One of the tactics that may be used by perpetrators involves staging a fake robbery where the drugs and money concealed on the child are stolen by their own gang. In these cases, the child believes they have lost money, drugs or phone contacts that are valuable to those running the county lines, and that they must work for free to repay the debt. Perpetrators might also threaten the safety of their family or parents, or their homes.

When young people are exploited over a long period, they may appear to take on more senior roles within drug‑related groups. As part of their exploitation, they may be pressured or coerced into recruiting younger children. Sometimes they do this because they are forced to, and sometimes as a way to protect themselves, trying to reduce their own risk by moving ‘up’ the group. This can lead to them being seen as offenders rather than victims, even though their actions are a direct result of ongoing exploitation. This pattern is well recognised in child trafficking and child exploitation.

Exploiters can include a wide range of individuals and groups, from friends or family members to local drug networks and organised crime groups. They often identify a child’s vulnerabilities or unmet needs and use these to make the child feel valued or supported. Over time, this develops into increasing pressure and expectation, with the child being drawn into criminal activity.

Experiences of exploitation can involve debt bondage, coercion, threats, violence, and emotional or sexual abuse. Young people may experience significant stress, fear, and trauma, and can face intimidation or violence if they try to withdraw or refuse involvement.

It is essential to recognise the power imbalance dynamics that underpin all forms of exploitation. The fact that a child or vulnerable adult receives something in return, such as money, drugs, gifts, or perceived status does not diminish their status as a victim. Exploitation can also occur where the exchange involves the avoidance of something harmful. For example, a child may engage in county lines activity to prevent threats being carried out against themselves or their family. In all cases, consent cannot be freely given when coercion, manipulation, fear, or power imbalance is present.

More concise: All children who are criminally exploited face significant risks, including neglect, emotional harm, sexual exploitation, substance misuse, and severe violence. Sexual violence may also be used as a form of punishment or control. Younger siblings may be recruited through fear, violence and intimidation against the family of older children who have already been exploited.

The trauma caused by intimidation, violence, witnessing drug use or overdoses and continued threats to themselves or to family members can lead to significant mental and physical ill-health of exploited children.

Financial exploitation can happen to any child. It takes many forms, including exploitation within families and care placements as well as outside the home.

Child Financial Exploitation occurs when adults exploit a power of imbalance to coerce, manipulate, or deceive children under 18 into financial crimes like money laundering or fraud, often using their bank accounts or personal details as ‘money mules’ or ‘financial couriers’ without the child’s full awareness. This form of child criminal exploitation can happen alongside other abuses, leading to det bondage, account closures, and long-term harm, yet victims are frequently misidentified as offenders.

Children who are financially exploited are often referred to as ‘money mules’ or ‘financial couriers’ by the media. This is a degrading term which minimises the harm and downplays the fact they have been exploited.

See Appendix 1 Children Society Professionals-Explainer-Financial-Exploitation.

Any child or young person may be at risk of criminal exploitation, regardless of their family background or home circumstances. For some, their homes will be a place of safety and security; for others this may not be the case. In all cases, the impact of exploitation extends beyond the child themselves, their families and siblings may also be threatened or placed at significant risk of violence by perpetrators.

Like other forms of abuse and exploitation, county lines exploitation:

• Can affect any child or young person (male or female) under the age of 18 years;
• Can affect any vulnerable adult over the age of 18 years;
• Can still be exploitation even if the activity appears consensual;
• Can involve force and/or enticement-based methods of compliance and is often accompanied by violence or threats of violence;
• Can be perpetrated by individuals or groups, males or females, and young people or adults; and
• Is typified by some form of power imbalance in favour of those perpetrating the exploitation. Whilst age may be the most obvious, this power imbalance can also be due to a range of other factors including gender, cognitive ability, physical strength, status, and access to economic or other resources.

Any child can be a victim of exploitation, although many victims have specific vulnerabilities that increase their risk. These include:

• Prior contact with the Youth Justice System;
• Having contact with the care system;
• Poor mental health;
• Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), particularly Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD);
• Alcohol or substance misuse issues;
• A history of adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s);
• Living in poverty or homelessness;
• Exclusion from mainstream education;
• Unsettled immigration status in the UK;
• Perceived sense of status, belonging and/or protection.

Black and minority children are disproportionately represented in statistics on criminal exploitation and are more likely to experience disproportional vulnerabilities when compared to their white peers.

The Counting Lives report found that 14- to 17-year-olds are the most likely age group to be exploited by criminal gangs. However, there was evidence of primary school children as young as seven or eight being targeted and exploited. But children of all ages are at risk. Adultification can sometimes take place and is a form of discrimination where children are treated as more mature, responsible, and less innocent than their peers, leading to the denial of their childhood and vulnerability.

Male children are most frequently identified as victims of criminal exploitation, but female children are also targeted and exploited. In some cases, female victims may come to the attention of agencies for other reasons, which can lead to their criminal exploitation being overlooked. Male victims are frequently overlooked in child sexual exploitation (CSE) services due to gender stereotypes that position boys as less vulnerable, despite evidence that they may constitute a substantial minority of victims and face additional barriers to disclosure. Research also indicates that professional biases can lead practitioners to be slower and less likely to identify males as victims of CSE, resulting in their needs being under-recognised compared with females. See How gender stereotyping is failing boys at risk of child sexual exploitation – ExChange.

Some potential indicators of county lines involvement and exploitation are listed below, with those at the top of particular concern:

• Persistently going missing from school or home and / or being found out-of-area;
• Unexplained acquisition of money, clothes, or mobile phones;
• Excessive receipt of texts / phone calls and/or having multiple handsets;
• Relationships with controlling / older individuals or groups;
• Leaving home / care without explanation;
• Suspicion of physical assault / unexplained injuries;
• Parental concerns;
• Carrying weapons;
• Significant decline in school results / performance;
• Gang association or isolation from peers or social networks;
• Self-harm or significant changes in emotional well-being;
• Some of the methods of online exploitation of young people include:
  • Harassment and bullying through text messaging;
  • Purchasing mobile phones for victims and sharing their numbers among group or gang members;
  • Randomly contacting children via social networking sites;
  • Using 'friends' lists on networking sites of known victims to target children and young people;
  • Viewing extremely or violent pornography and discussing it during sexual assaults;
  • Posting images of victims with rival gang members to invite a sexual assault as punishment;
  • Filming and distributing incidents of rape;
  • Contacting and grooming children and young people through online gaming sites.

If a practitioner identifies signs that a child is being exploited or groomed into criminal activity, or at risk of involvement in CCE they should respond following their individual agency's Safeguarding and Child Protection Procedures, alongside any specific local guidance for identifying and responding to CCE.

See also: Safeguarding Children from Sexual Exploitation Procedure, Relevant Guidance.

Sharing intelligence and information (see Multi-Agency Information Submission Form) is critical when developing multi- agency approaches to preventing criminal exploitation. (Further guidance and training on the Multi-Agency Information Submission Form is available through the  Safeguarding Bedfordshire ).

Effective information‑sharing enables agencies to understand the prevalence, nature, and scale of criminal exploitation and county lines activity. This work should sit alongside local profiles for sexual exploitation and missing children, helping to identify vulnerable children, locations of concern, and potential perpetrators.

Police‑led disruption activity, supported by tools such as the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and civil and criminal orders, is a critical part of safeguarding. Early, coordinated action can protect the child who has been criminally or sexually exploited and reduce risks to other linked children.

Effective early information sharing and intelligence gathering can:

• Help build a profile of children that may be most at risk identify and support a child's needs at the earliest opportunity;
• Reduce the duration of harm and prevent escalation to more serious abuse;
• Help identify and understand links between different forms of exploitation and hidden, or related, crimes;
• Identify locations being used for the purposes of exploitation;
• Identify networks or individuals who pose a risk to children;
• Provide evidence in applications to the court for civil and criminal orders;
• Enable a timely risk assessment of a potential victim of exploitation and development of an effective collaborative safety plan.

The Home Office has published guidance for safeguarding agencies in the Child exploitation disruption toolkit. The toolkit is primarily aimed at frontline staff, including law enforcement, social care, education, housing and the voluntary sector, working to safeguard children and young people up to the age of 25 years old from sexual and criminal exploitation. Additionally, it is intended to help all safeguarding partners to understand and access existing legislative opportunities at their disposal and to target specific risks and threats.

Children’s safety and needs must always come first. Professionals should work flexibly and remain engaged, even when a child is reluctant to participate. Consistent, stable, and respectful relationships are key to supporting effective interventions for exploited children. Professionals need to remain curious when a child is offending or presenting with other concerning behaviours. They should ask questions like: what is happening in this child's life that is causing them to behave this way?

Children’s behaviours, such as offending or violence, may stem from exploitation outside the home, abuse within the home, or both. Our interventions must consider the full range of risks and needs. Children who have been criminally exploited are victims of crime, even if they do not initially recognise themselves as victims. Agencies should consider the context of the child's behaviour as well as the impact (for example, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental health issues or substance misuse), to help determine an effective response. This is particularly relevant for children exploited through county lines activity.

VEPP - (Violence and Exploitation Prevention Partnership formerly known as Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU)) was established in 2019, through government funding, and are one of 22 specialist units across the UK and the only unit to place an emphasis on the link between violence and exploitation.

A network of different agencies and groups aiming to tackle the root causes of societal issues that affect young people, they work with partners to prevent our young and vulnerable people from being coerced by perpetrators or being groomed into exploitation. In Bedfordshire, the Violence & Exploitation Prevention Partnership (VEPP) works to prevent serious violence and exploitation, especially among young people at risk of being pulled into gangs and criminal activity. It does this by coordinating local services, supporting families and communities at early “reachable moments,” and running public campaigns such as anti-knife crime initiatives to build a safer county.

The team is made up of specialist professionals able to provide informed support and advice to help young people and families to better understand the risks and signs of exploitation and criminality, navigate challenging circumstances and make positive contributions to the wider community.

ICTG Services (Independent Child Trafficking Guardians) is the Service Provider who operates the ICTG provision in Bedfordshire who are part of the ICTG Sites (both Early Adopter and Additional Sites)

The ICTG Service is made up of ICTG Direct Workers for children where no one holds parental responsibility for them in the UK, and ICTG Regional Practice Coordinators who will work strategically across regions with public authorities to improve the support and processes in place for safeguarding children who have been trafficked. The ICTG Regional Practice Coordinator will work with professionals who are themselves working directly with these children. The role will focus on children who do have someone with parental responsibility for them in the UK.

Please access the Interim Guidance for Independent Child Trafficking Guardians and its purpose is to support the establishment of the above ICTG structure, identifying respective roles and responsibilities as well as those of public authorities and other related agencies and their staff situated or working in the ICTG Sites.

Protecting children from criminal exploitation, human trafficking and modern slavery (GOV.UK) - thematic report from Joint Inspections on the risk of child criminal exploitation.

Children and Young People Trafficked for the Purpose of Criminal Exploitation in Relation to County Lines a Toolkit For Professionals - (The Children's Society in partnership with Victim Support and the National Police Chiefs' Council) - a number of resources that may be useful for professionals when working with children and young people, their families and communities at risk of abuse and exploitation.

Appropriate Language: Child Exploitation (The Children’s Society)

Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines (GOV.UK) - Guidance for frontline professionals on dealing with county lines, part of the government's approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.

Child exploitation disruption toolkit (The Home Office) - Disruption tactics for those working to safeguard children and young people under the age of 18 from sexual and criminal exploitation.

County lines exploitation: guidance for practitioners (Ministry of Justice) - Practice guidance for Youth Offending Teams and frontline practitioners.

County lines exploitation: practice guidance poster (Ministry of Justice) - Note: not all processes included may be applicable to your local area, so please refer to your local CCE Pathway as well.

Tackling Child Exploitation: Resources Pack (Local Government Association)

Serious Violence Duty - Preventing and Reducing Serious Violence: Statutory Guidance for Responsible Authorities

Children’s Society Financial Exploitation

Child financial exploitation: a guide for parents, carers and professionals

Money laundering-linked financial exploitation: guidance for frontline professionals