Updated May 2026

UK Safeguarding
The Picture Right Now

Primary-source statistics on knife crime, county lines exploitation, online grooming, substance misuse, and radicalisation across England and Wales. Cited and updated for 2025/26.

ONS Crime Statistics 2024/25 NCA County Lines 2025 Home Office Prevent 2022/23 OHID Treatment Data 2024/25 Ofcom Children's Report 2024
New Strategy · April 2026

"Protecting Lives, Building Hope" — the government's new serious violence strategy commits to: 50 Young Futures Hubs, £66.6m Serious Violence Reduction Programme, new criminal offences for cuckooing and CCE under the Crime and Policing Bill, and a £34m renewal of the County Lines Programme.

Read strategy ↗

Headline Figures 2024/25

49k+
knife offences
England & Wales
244
stabbing deaths
2023/24
2,740
county lines closed
2024/25 · NCA
10k+
children exploited
county lines / yr
16,212
children in treatment
substance misuse ↑13%
6,828
Prevent referrals
2022/23 · Home Office

Trends Over Time

Knife Crime Offences

England & Wales, year ending March · ONS

County Lines Disrupted

Lines closed per year · NCA / Home Office

Children in Drug Treatment

Under-18s in treatment, England · OHID/NDTMS

By Category

Knife Crime

ONS 2024/25
49,214
total offences 2023/24
43%
offenders under 25
50%
victims under 25
−15%
knife-point robberies YoY
▸London accounts for approximately 23% of all knife offences nationally despite being 15% of the population.
▸Knife-point robberies are down 15% year-on-year — the largest annual fall since 2010 (Home Office, 2025).
▸The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs), now issued to over 1,500 individuals.
▸244 stabbing deaths were recorded in 2023/24 — every victim under 25 represents a child known to at least one school safeguarding team.
Knife Crime Hub → Primary Source ↗

County Lines & Child Exploitation

NCA 2025
2,740
lines closed 2024/25
10,000+
children exploited/yr
15 yrs
avg age of runner
£34m
programme funding
▸Lines closed have risen from 1,506 in 2021/22 to 2,740 in 2024/25 — a sign of more robust enforcement, not necessarily an increase in total lines.
▸Cuckooing — taking over a vulnerable person's home to deal drugs — is being criminalised under the new Crime and Policing Bill (2026).
▸Under Working Together 2023, county lines involvement is classified as child criminal exploitation (CCE) — children are victims, not offenders.
▸The Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides the primary legislative framework for prosecuting those who exploit children in county lines networks.
County Lines Hub → NCA Source ↗

Online Safety & Grooming

Ofcom / NSPCC 2024
1 in 3
children contacted by stranger online
5.5 hrs
avg daily screen time teens
82%
young people use social media daily
61%
teens aware of the dark web
▸The Online Safety Act 2023 — now in force — places a duty of care on platforms to protect children from harmful content.
▸CEOP Command received over 100,000 reports of suspected online child sexual abuse in 2023/24 — up 19% year-on-year.
▸AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is now a specific offence under the Online Safety Act 2023.
▸Grooming typically begins on public platforms (Instagram, TikTok) before moving to encrypted apps (Snapchat, WhatsApp) within 72 hours of first contact.
Online Grooming Hub → Ofcom Source ↗

Substance Misuse

OHID/NDTMS 2024/25
16,212
children in treatment
↑13%
year-on-year increase
82%
started using before age 15
57%
primary substance: cannabis
▸1 in 5 young people aged 11–15 have been offered drugs (NHS Digital, Young People's Substance Misuse 2023).
▸Ketamine misuse among under-18s increased by 43% between 2022 and 2024 (NDTMS 2024).
▸Vaping among 11-17 year olds rose to 20.5% in 2024, up from 16% in 2022 (ASH, 2024).
▸Under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is now a Class C drug following reclassification in November 2023.
Substance Misuse Hub → OHID Source ↗

Prevent & Radicalisation

Home Office 2022/23
6,828
referrals 2022/23
43%
received support (RWT)
17%
from education sector
1,269
Channel cases
▸Education (schools and colleges) is the third largest referral source, accounting for 17% of all Prevent referrals — behind police and social care.
▸Extreme right-wing ideology now accounts for approximately 21% of Prevent referrals, up from 14% in 2018/19.
▸The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (s.26) creates a statutory Prevent duty for schools, colleges, and universities.
▸Under the Prevent Duty Guidance 2023, schools must have a designated Prevent lead and a policy for supporting vulnerable students.
Prevent Hub → Home Office Source ↗

Prevent Referrals by Sector

Source: Home Office, Individuals Referred to and Supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2022 to March 2023.

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📊 UK Safeguarding Statistics 2026 — The Safeguard Hub

For journalists and commissioners

All statistics on this page are sourced from primary UK government data. If you would like to cite this page or use the data in a report, please link to safeguard-hub.org/stats/ and include the source date.

Primary Sources

ONS (2024). Crime in England and Wales: Year Ending March 2024. Office for National Statistics, gov.uk.
NCA (2025). County Lines Strategic Assessment 2024/25. National Crime Agency.
Home Office (2025). Knife and Offensive Weapon Sentencing Statistics 2024. gov.uk.
Home Office (2023). Individuals Referred to and Supported through the Prevent Programme, April 2022 to March 2023. gov.uk.
OHID / NDTMS (2025). Young People's Substance Misuse Treatment Statistics 2024/25. Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities, gov.uk.
Ofcom (2024). Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2024. ofcom.org.uk.
NSPCC (2024). How Safe Are Our Children? Annual Report 2024. nspcc.org.uk.
HM Government (2023). Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023. gov.uk.
HM Government (2026). Protecting Lives, Building Hope: Serious Violence Strategy. gov.uk.

Statistics last reviewed: May 2026. The Safeguard Hub is an independent resource and is not affiliated with any government department. All data is reproduced from open government sources under the Open Government Licence v3.0.