Protecting children from county lines

Introduction

What is county lines?

County lines is a form of criminal exploitation where urban gangs persuade, coerce or force children and young people to store drugs and money and/or transport them to suburban areas, market towns and coastal towns (Home Office, 2018). It can happen in any part of the UK and is against the law and a form of child abuse.

Children and young people may be criminally exploited in multiple ways. Other forms of criminal exploitation include child sexual exploitation, trafficking, gang and knife crime.

County lines gangs are highly organised criminal networks that use sophisticated, frequently evolving techniques to groom young people and evade capture by the police.

Perpetrators use children and young people to maximise profits and distance themselves from the criminal act of physically dealing drugs (National Crime agency, 2019). Young people do the majority of the work and take the most risk.

Dedicated mobile phone lines or “deal lines” are used to help facilitate county lines drug deals. Phones are usually cheap, disposable and old fashioned, because they are changed frequently to avoid detection by the police.

Gangs use the phones to receive orders and contact young people to instruct them where to deliver drugs. This may be to a local dealer or drug user, or a dealer or drug user in another county.

Phrases that young people may use to refer to county lines include:

‘running a line’,
‘going OT/out there’
‘going country’
‘going cunch’.

These all refer to going out of town to deliver drugs or money (Thurrock Council, 2020).

We’ve put together some information to help anyone who works or volunteers with children and young people to recognise the signs that a child might be being exploited by a county lines gang and understand what action to take to help keep children safe.

This includes:

the risks associated with county lines
recognising and responding to concerns about county lines
how professionals can work to prevent county lines
a summary of the relevant legislation and guidance.

Impact

Impact of child criminal exploitation

Child criminal exploitation and county lines can involve various types of harm. As well as being exposed to danger, threats and violence, children may experience long-term harms impacting their wellbeing, their futures and the way they interact with services.

Physical abuse and violence

Children and young people can experience physical abuse, serious violence and potentially death from being groomed or forced to engage in criminal activity.

Some of the physical harms children may experience include:

being exposed to or forced to take drugs
being physically assaulted
serious violence such as knife and gun crime
the use of substances such as acid as a weapon
homicide.¹

They may also be coerced or forced to physically harm or attack other children or young people.²

The fear of serious physical violence as revenge for disrespecting, ‘snitching’ or ‘grassing’ is one of the things that prevents young people from leaving the people exploiting them or seeking help from the police and other agencies.³

Some children are also forced to transport drugs in ways that are invasive and harmful to their bodies. Young people may be forced to swallow bags of drugs to transport them, which could potentially be life threatening.

> Find out more about protecting children from physical abuse

Sexual abuse and exploitation

Professionals should understand and recognise that sexual abuse and exploitation can happen to children of any gender or sexuality.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation can occur alongside child criminal exploitation. In particular, girls who experience child criminal exploitation are more likely to be sexually abused and exploited as part of the process.⁴

> Learn more about protecting children from sexual exploitation

Children can be sexually abused and exploited as part of criminal exploitation through:

being forced into sexual activity with their exploiter or for the exploiter’s financial gain
being made to work off drug debts through sexual exploitation as ‘payment’ (this might happen after the child has been coerced into becoming dependent on drugs)
being groomed into what they believe is a romantic relationship which then leads to exploitation.⁵

Sometimes, drugs are inserted into a child’s rectum or vagina. This known as ‘plugging’. It is a form of sexual abuse and in some cases it can cause a child’s death.⁶

Unsafe environments and homelessness

Young people can be trafficked to locations far away from where they live for long periods of time. They may end up staying in unsuitable accommodation in an area that is unknown to them. This might include short term holiday lets or budget hotels.⁷

> Learn more about protecting children from trafficking and modern slavery

The accommodation may be a ‘cuckooed’ property. ‘Cuckooing’ happens when a property is overtaken, often through force, and used as a base to deal drugs from. Children can be forced or coerced to stay at cuckooed addresses for long periods of time to deal drugs or grow cannabis. In these unsafe environments children and young people may be in close contact with toxic substances and used needles.⁸ A cuckooed address is sometimes referred to as a ‘drug den’, ‘bando’ or a ‘trap house’.^8,⁹

Children and young people may not feel able to leave unsafe accommodation because the people exploiting them have isolated them from their families. They may also believe that their families will be harmed if they seek help or tell others what is happening.¹⁰

Mental health problems and trauma

Children and young people may develop mental health problems or experience a worsening of them as a result of exploitation.¹¹ They may experience:

feeling frightened, isolated, angry or hopeless^11,¹²
behaviour changes linked to poor mental health such as aggression¹³
extreme anger and mood swings¹⁴
an increase in their mistrust of others or hypervigilance¹⁶
anxiety and low mood.¹⁶

The criminal activity children are forced to carry out can be distressing. It may also result in distressing or traumatic encounters with services, such as the police. This then can lead to a mistrust in services that could support them.

Professionals should also consider the emotional trauma children and young people can experience when they acknowledge that they have been abused by people they trusted.¹⁷

> Learn more about recognising the signs that a child may be struggling with their mental health

Criminalisation

Children and young people may experience being seen and treated as criminals if the professionals working with them don’t understand that child criminal exploitation is a form of abuse.¹⁸ This can lead to children and young people not getting the safeguarding support and protection they need.

Experiencing criminal exploitation can also influence the way children see themselves.²⁰ This can then impact how they interact with professionals and how those professionals perceive them. Children can sometimes be criminalised when exploitation isn’t considered early or often enough by services.²⁰

Recognising

Recognising child criminal exploitation

Any child from any background can potentially be at risk of criminal exploitation.¹ There are factors in a child’s life that may increase their vulnerability to exploitation. The process of child criminal exploitation can occur in different ways.

The process of exploitation

Child criminal exploitation can be carried out by individuals or groups of any gender or nationality.

The process of exploitation involves a power imbalance where perpetrators:

Target a child. This may involve them being approached by older children who are themselves experiencing exploitation.²
Build a connection with them. This can be through promising or providing them with something they want or need. This includes money, food, clothes, a relationship or sense of belonging and identity.³
Use force, coercion, grooming, blackmail, manipulation and violence in order to control and trap them.⁴

The following have been identified as key places where vulnerable young people are targeted and approached:

schools and further and higher educational institutions
special educational needs schools
places for alternative provision outside of mainstream education
foster homes
homeless shelters.

How the exploitation is carried out will also be different depending on where a child or young person lives.⁵

Online exploitation

Online platforms can be used by perpetrators of child criminal exploitation to groom, coerce, threaten and manipulate children and young people into becoming involved in criminal activity.

This can happen in a number of different ways:

Through the use of social media platforms to glamorise, promote or normalise ‘gang life’ or criminal activity.⁶
Legitimate-looking job adverts shared to manipulate children into engaging.
Through gaming platforms where electro-currencies, credits, and rewards are used to groom children.
Technology and social media platforms used to monitor where a child is and what they are doing. This can keep them trapped in exploitation.⁷

> Find out more about protecting children from online harms

Who is vulnerable to child criminal exploitation?

All children can be vulnerable to exploitation.⁸ However, research^9,⁹ indicates that there are some factors that may make some children and young people more likely to be targeted by perpetrators of child criminal exploitation. These factors include:

experience of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse
a lack of a safe and stable home environment, such as having experienced domestic abuse
social isolation or social difficulties
feeling that they are marginalised by society
experience of economic vulnerability or poverty
homelessness or insecure accommodation status
connections with other people involved in gangs
having a physical or learning disability
experiencing mental health problems
having problems with substance use
being in care or having a history of being in care
being excluded from mainstream education
having contact with the criminal justice system.

Permanent exclusion from mainstream education has been identified as a critical event that can lead to young people becoming vulnerable to criminal exploitation.¹⁰

Perpetrators can take advantage of the lack of structure, loss of a sense of belonging and feelings of rejection that exclusion can elicit in a young person.¹¹

Signs that a young person may be experiencing criminal exploitation

Guidance from the Home Office¹² and the Ministry of Justice¹³ suggests that the following signs may indicate that a child is experiencing child criminal exploitation:

frequently going missing from school, home or care
travelling to locations, or being found in areas they have no obvious connections with, including seaside or market towns or locations within their urban area that they are unfamiliar with
unwillingness to explain their whereabouts
acquiring money, clothes, accessories or mobile phones which they seem unable to account for
receiving excessive texts or phone calls at all hours of the day
having multiple mobile phone handsets or sim cards. This might also include smart phones which can use applications for communication that don’t need a phone number
appearing anxious or secretive about their online activities and receiving or sending money, gifts or gaming currency to someone online
withdrawing or having sudden changes in personality, behaviour or the language they use
having relationships with controlling or older individuals and groups
unexplained injuries
carrying weapons
significant decline in school results or performance
being isolated from peers or social networks
associating with or being interested in gang culture
self-harming or having significant changes in mental health.

Responding

Responding to concerns about child criminal exploitation

If you’re worried that a child or young person might be or is at risk of experiencing child criminal exploitation, you must share your concerns.

Reporting

If you think a child is in immediate danger, contact the police on 999. If you're worried about a child but they are not in immediate danger, you should share your concerns.

Follow your organisational child protection procedures. Organisations that work with children and families must have safeguarding policies and procedures in place.
Contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or by emailing help@nspcc.org.uk. Our child protection specialists will talk through your concerns with you and give you expert advice.
Contact the local child protection services. Their contact details can be found on the website for the relevant local authority. The local authority the child comes from is responsible for the child’s welfare. But it is also good practice to contact the local authority in the area the child is found, as they may need to be a part of the multi-agency response and there may be other children or vulnerable adults at risk.
Contact the police.

If your organisation doesn't have a clear safeguarding procedure or you're concerned about how child protection issues are being handled in your own, or another, organisation, contact the Whistleblowing Advice Line to discuss your concerns.

> Find out about the Whistleblowing Advice Line on the NSPCC website

When you're not sure

The NSPCC Helpline can help when you're not sure if a situation needs a safeguarding response. Our child protection specialists are here to support you whether you're seeking advice, sharing concerns about a child, or looking for reassurance.

Whatever the need, reason or feeling, you can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or by emailing help@nspcc.org.uk

Our trained professionals will talk through your concerns with you. Depending on what you share, our experts will talk you through which local services can help, advise you on next steps, or make referrals to children's services and the police.

> Find out more about how the NSPCC Helpline can support you

National referral mechanism (NRM)

Part of child criminal exploitation may involve children and young people being trafficked to different locations.

You should refer children who have been trafficked to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). Evidence of a referral can be used in a young person’s defence in criminal and legal proceedings.¹

> Find out more about what action to take if a child has been exploited through trafficking and modern slavery

Multi-agency working

A multi-agency response is needed to tackle child criminal exploitation and protect any children involved from further harm. This should include participation from local authority children’s social care, the local authority community safety team, schools, police and youth offending teams.

The local authority the child comes from (if known) is responsible for the child’s welfare.² They may need to liaise with child protection agencies in the area the child was found, in order to keep the child safe.

Collaborative working and information sharing is essential in protecting the welfare of the child.

Across the UK, Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) can act as sources of advice for children without a figure of parental responsibility in the UK who have been victims of trafficking and modern slavery.³

ICTG regional practice co-ordinators take on a more strategic role supporting children who do have a figure of parental responsibility, working with professionals to encourage them to take a co-ordinated and multi-agency approach to child trafficking, modern slavery and county lines.⁴

> Find out more about multi-agency working in child protection and safeguarding

Supporting the child who has experienced exploitation

Adults who work or volunteer with children and young people are in a good position to build trusting relationships with them. This will help young people feel able to discuss issues that are affecting their lives and speak out if they need support about any issue, including child criminal exploitation.⁵

Adultification and racism

Children and young people from marginalised communities, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, can experience a form of bias from services where professionals see them as more ‘grown up’ than they are or as having more choice or control than they really do. Adultification can lead to risks or harms, such as child criminal exploitation, going unidentified and safeguarding responses and supports not put in place.⁶

Those who work with children need to be clear that child criminal exploitation is not a lifestyle choice and that the young person is not to blame for the criminal exploitation they have experienced.

Supporting children and young people to seek help

Perpetrators of child criminal exploitation convince young people that there is no way out for them, in order to trap and control them. This means it’s important for adults to reassure young people that there is a way out and that help is available.

Young people who have been forced into criminal activity may push back when help is offered. They may not see themselves as having experienced exploitation or they may be scared of recriminations if they ‘snitch’ or’ grass’ on the people exploiting them.⁷

Young people may finally reach out for help in the event of a major incident or emergency. This might include a serious injury or the threat of serious injury to themselves or someone they know, or if someone they know was killed. If professionals do not act quickly and effectively to intervene at this point, the child may experience exploitation again or be pressured into returning to those exploiting them.⁸

Childline

If a child or young person needs confidential help and advice about criminal exploitation or anything else that’s worrying them, you can always direct them to Childline. Calls to 0800 1111 are free and children can also contact Childline online.

Childline provides information and advice for young people affected by crime, gun and knife crime, gang activity, drugs or any other form of abuse.

You can also download Childline posters.

Training

To help identify and support children who have experienced child criminal exploitation, professionals need training which covers:

signs and indicators of criminal exploitation
the legislative framework around criminal exploitation
the NRM referral process
understanding the trauma experienced by young people.⁹

> Learn more about how to identify and support children who have experienced county lines exploitation with our training course

Prevention

Schools and education

Schools and colleges can help raise awareness of child criminal exploitation. This can be done through whole-school assemblies, class discussions or smaller group work.

As well as discussing what child criminal exploitation is and the process of how child criminal exploitation can occur, schools should ensure children know who they can talk to if they have any concerns.

Schools are also well-placed to identify any children who may be at risk of child criminal exploitation and form part of the multi-agency response.

> Find out more about having difficult conversations with children

> Find out more about promoting healthy relationships

Exclusion from school

Schools can be a strong protective factor for children and young people.¹

If a child is at risk of being excluded from education, schools should always consider what immediate support can be put in place to protect them from child criminal exploitation.

This should include exploring what support is available from children’s social care, and voluntary and community organisations.

Working with parents and carers

Engaging with parents and carers can help protect children and young people who are at risk of criminal exploitation. Parents and carers need support to manage any risk to their child.

It’s important for services working with children at risk of child criminal exploitation to understand what barriers might be in place for parents and carers. These might include fears around:

feeling blamed or judged for what is happening to their child
not being taken seriously by services when they report concerns
their child being criminalised by agencies rather than supported²
their child being excluded from school³
recriminations from the perpetrators of child criminal exploitation.⁴

If you or a parent or carer have concerns that a child or young person is experiencing child criminal exploitation the NSPCC Helpline can be contacted by calling 0808 800 5000, emailing help@NSPCC.org.uk or completing our report abuse online form.

Legislation and guidance

Statutory guidance across the UK highlights the responsibility of those in the education, community and care sectors to safeguard children from all forms of abuse including child criminal exploitation.

Child criminal exploitation may involve child trafficking and modern slavery.

> Find out more about the legislation relating to child trafficking and modern slavery across the UK

Guidance

The Home Office has provided key guidance for all four UK nations on how to recognise and respond to concerns about child criminal exploitation and county lines.¹

In England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice has provided guidance for frontline practitioners on referral pathways for responding to and safeguarding children involved in county lines exploitation.²

Practice principles, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), have been published by The Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) Support Programme. The principles are for all professionals working with children around effective partnership working when responding to child exploitation and extra-familial harm.³

In Northern Ireland, the Departments of Justice, Health and Education launched a Child criminal exploitation (CCE) action plan.⁴ It aims to increase awareness and a shared understanding of child criminal exploitation as child abuse and make sure there is effective prevention, protection and intervention responses.

References

Canterbury Community Safety Partnership (2020) Protect your child: county lines and drug and alcohol abuse. (YouTube video). [Accessed 16/03/2021].

Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (2020) It was hard to escape: safeguarding children at risk from criminal exploitation (PDF). [London]: Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

Children’s Society (2019) Counting lives report: responding to children who are criminally exploited (PDF). London: Children’s Society.

Home Office (2020a) Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines. [Accessed 16/03/2021].

Home Office (2020b) 2020 UK annual report on modern slavery. [Accessed 16/03/2021].

Home Office (2018) County lines: criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults. [Accessed 16/03/2021].

Ministry of Justice (2019) County lines exploitation: practice guidance for youth offending teams and frontline practitioners. [Accessed 16/03/2021].

National Crime Agency (2019) County lines: drug supply, vulnerability and harm 2018 (PDF). London: National Crime Agency.

Ofsted et al (2018) Protecting children from criminal exploitation, human trafficking and modern slavery: an addendum. Manchester: Ofsted.

Public Health England (2021) County Lines exploitation: applying All Our Health. [Accessed 19/03/2021].

Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) Support Programme (2023) Multi-agency practice principles for responding to child exploitation and extra-familial harm. [Accessed 28/06/2023].

Thurrock Council (2020) Gangs and gang crime: county lines (drug trafficking). [Accessed 16/03/2021].

Youth Justice Legal Centre (2018) Child criminal exploitation: county lines gangs, child trafficking and modern slavery defences for children. London: Youth Justice Legal Centre.