An inquiry has identified ‘extensive failures’ in the way local authorities tackle child sexual exploitation, especially when it comes to abuse perpetrated by networks.

A new report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has warned that there is a flawed assumption that child sexual exploitation is decreasing, when in reality it often goes unreported unless it is connected to other forms of criminal behaviour such as county lines.

The Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks report focuses on six case study areas – St Helens, Tower Hamlets, Swansea, Durham, Bristol and Warwickshire – and draws on extensive evidence of child sexual exploitation by networks, including the testimony of 30 children and young people who have survived abuse.

Perpetrators were finding new ways to groom their victims, the report found, including through mobile phones, social media and dating apps.

It also criticises local authorities and the police for using language which downplays child sexual exploitation, such as describing children as being ‘at risk’ despite clear evidence of harm having occurred.

The inquiry also discovered that none of the areas examined kept data on the ethnicity of victims and alleged perpetrators, which makes it impossible to know whether any particular ethnic group is over-represented as perpetrators of child sexual exploitation by networks.

‘The sexual exploitation of children by networks is not a rare phenomenon confined to a small number of areas with high-profile criminal cases. It is a crime which involves the sexual abuse of children in the most degrading and destructive ways, by multiple perpetrators,’ said chair to the Inquiry Professor Alexis Jay.

‘We found extensive failures by local authorities and police forces in the ways in which they tackled this sexual abuse. There appeared to be a flawed assumption that child sexual exploitation was on the wane, however it has become even more of a hidden problem and increasingly underestimated when only linked to other forms of criminal behaviour such as county lines.’

The report made a number of recommendations, including a call to police forces and local authorities in England and Wales to collect specific data – including sex, ethnicity and disability – on all cases of known or suspected child sexual exploitation, including by networks.

Mark Russell, chief executive at The Children’s Society, described the report as a ‘damning indictment’ of responses to child sexual exploitation, but said the problems it highlights have been raised ‘time and time again’.

‘It is simply not good enough that many children who have suffered horrendous abuse are still being failed,’ he said.

‘How many wake-up calls will be needed? It is desperately sad that children who report abuse are too often not taken seriously by professionals or made to feel they were complicit in their exploitation.

‘Basic steps needed to better identify, support and protect victims and to bring their abusers to justice are still not being implemented in many cases.

‘There is a lack of even simple data on the number of young victims, the legal definition of child sexual exploitation is outdated and confusing and a lack of suitable care placements means many young people are being placed far from home, often in unregulated accommodation, leaving them at greater risk.’

He added: ‘The Government must urgently address these failings as well as understand and address the reasons why so many predators are not being prosecuted.’

Kim Harrison, head of operations – abuse law and public inquiries at Slater and Gordon, who represented many of the survivors who gave evidence to the Inquiry, welcomed the findings, but said the Inquiry ‘needs to go much further in its final report.’

‘We need a transformation in attitudes in police and social services, much better multi-agency working, a new national strategy to identify and tackle child sexual exploitation, and much more proactive use of the criminal law. The Government needs to resource this properly,’ she said.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA) said: 'Councils want every child to be kept safe from harm and take incidents of child exploitation very seriously.

'Every child deserves to be protected from the kind of abuse outlined in this report and councils are committed to working with local safeguarding partnerships to ensure lessons are learned and collective action taken where necessary.'