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Missing school children at risk of child sexual exploitation

14,000 children who regularly miss school in Manchester are at risk of sexual exploitation, according to an MP.

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Ofsted: 'It's too easy to overlook other risks'

“It is also too easy to overlook other risks, for example street level grooming and/or peer on peer abuse or exploitation, that young people may be exposed to when they are absent from school.”

“In that local authority, the education welfare service had access to a ‘persistent absence list’, which they used to target young people whose pattern of school attendance may indicate other concerns, including a risk of child sexual exploitation. The fact that there was such as list made it possible to combine and analyse data in order to identify trends and patterns and explore possible links to child sexual exploitation or gang related activity.

“Most of the local authorities inspected did not have a centrally held database of children and young people with high levels of school absence. This meant that it was not possible to cross-reference that information with information about children and young people known to children’s social care at risk of child exploitation or those who have been reported to the police as missing.”

– Ofsted

Absent pupils at risk of grooming

Children being absent from school was raised as an issue at a review into safeguarding children in Rochdale following the horrific sexual grooming case in 2012.

The report quoted Department for Education figures which showed that there were over 14,000 children missing from Greater Manchester schools over six half-terms in 2012/13.

This included 9,135 children persistently absent from secondary schools (missing over 15 per cent of lessons) and 4,955 children persistently absent from primary schools.

In her report Ms Coffey also drew attention to concerns of other professionals about children on part-time timetables.

One youth worker said: “If you only go to school between 9 and 12 and when you get home your parents are at work or do not give a monkey’s about you, then what do you do from 12 onwards?”

Read the report here

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14,000 pupils missing school are 'at risk of sexual exploitation'

14,000 absent school pupils in Manchester are at risk of exploitation, says MP

14,000 children who regularly miss school in Manchester are at risk of sexual exploitation, according to an MP.

Ann Coffey, MP for Stockport, says persistent absence from classes could be a sign of abuse outside school.

She wants education authorities to keep centralised lists of such pupils, which can be cross-referenced by police and social services to help investigate cases of exploitation.

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