Members of the public are being called on to report any suspicions they may have about child sexual abuse as part of a UK-wide campaign to tackle record-high numbers of offences.
New figures show that in 2022/23 some 5557 child sexual offences were recorded by Police Scotland, including rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming and indecent communication.
Freedom of information data totalled 86,962 child sexual offences recorded by police across the UK in the same time period.
READ MORE: 3D printed guns have been reported in Scotland
The figures, compiled by the charity the NSPCC, are some of the highest on record since the charity started its annual research 16 years ago.
The NSPCC is calling on the general public, including those who work with children, to use its helpline to express any concerns they may have regarding a child, even if they are not certain.
Kam Thandi, Helpline Director at the NSPCC, said: “The high numbers of child sexual offences being reported by the police in Scotland and across the UK are a warning to us all that more must be done to tackle this abuse.
"This new helpline campaign, in partnership with the Home Office, will encourage the general public and professionals to reach out with concerns about child sexual abuse.
"All of us must play our part in protecting children.
"The Helpline deals with concerns about children, no matter how big or small, and we’re encouraging adults to contact us."
In Scotland, 5,557 child sexual offences were recorded by Police Scotland in 2022/23 – close to the record levels recorded in the previous year. This comes as the NSPCC launches a new campaign in partnership with the Home Office to tackle child sexual abuse.
Together they are encouraging the public to contact the charity’s UK adult Helpline if they are concerned that a child could be at risk.
READ MORE: Sentencing of child sexual abuse gang in Glasgow has been delayed
The partnership will also encourage people to report on instances where there are concerns that a child might be experiencing sexual abuse.
The Home Office is providing funding for the NSPCC Helpline to increase capacity and to raise awareness of the service to the public and professionals.
One parent in Scotland told the Helpline: "My son has been a victim of scammers online. He’s so withdrawn and hardly sleeping.
"He believed he was talking to a girlfriend online, the same age as him, and ‘she’ convinced him to send explicit images of himself.
"These were actually adult male scammers who are now demanding money from him, or they’ll leak his pictures."
The NSPCC also operates a dedicated Whistleblowing Helpline, which can be contacted for any concerns around child protection issues within the workplace, or other professional organisations.
Childline, the charity’s free child counselling service, hears directly from children on the impact sexual abuse can have on their lives.
A 15-year-old who contacted the helpline said: "Today I told a friend about a family member sexually abusing me and it felt like such a weight off my shoulders.
"I was so young when it started and they’re still in my life; it’s confusing when they’re a normal family member to everyone else.
"It has caused a lot of tears and self-hate. It’s scary talking about it but I knew I needed to tell someone like Childline."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel