Online safety during coronavirus

Introduction

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, people are relying even more on online technology.

Due to lockdowns and high-level restrictions, children are spending more time at home and may not be able to see friends and family in person. This makes keeping in touch online extra important.

Many children are spending more time online – and expanding the ways they use the internet. They may join online communities or start using new video-calling platforms. Children who receive support from services may go online to contact social workers, counsellors and others in their support network.

While all this can bring benefits to children’s mental health and wellbeing, children can be exposed to risk online.

Risks

When children spend time online they may be exposed to:

Europol has reported an increase in some countries in offenders attempting to contact young people via social media since the outbreak of the virus (Europol, 2020)¹.

Some children may have limited access to the internet at home. This may impact their level and quality of education, their contact with friends and wider family, and potentially affect their mental health.

To help you understand and tackle the risks all children face online, we’ve pulled together some resources, including updated information on communicating with children via social media, running online services, tips for parents and carers and advice to share with children.

Communicating with children online

If you’re using social media or messaging/video apps to communicate with children as part of your work, you must consider safeguarding measures.

We’ve updated our online safety and social media page to include information and advice on:

policies and procedures for ensuring online safety
behavioural codes and appropriate language when using social media
managing online communities
how to livestream safely.

> Read our information and advice on online safety and social media

Our podcast on enhancing online safety for children provides helpful information and advice on:

running online services safely
managing your online presence effectively
adopting professional and personal boundaries online
how to prevent and respond to cyberbullying.

> Listen to our podcast on enhancing online safety for children

If you’re setting up an online community where children and young people can post or interact with each other, it’s important that this environment is safe.

Our online training course on managing online communities can help you:

manage your online presence
moderate online content and respond to concerns
set clear boundaries between personal and private online accounts.

> Take our online training course on managing online communities

Remote teaching

We’ve published information on undertaking remote teaching safely during the pandemic, which covers:

safety and safeguarding considerations during remote teaching
consent
contacting children at home
child protection concerns.

> Read our guidance on undertaking remote teaching safely

Training

Make sure you, your staff, and your volunteers understand how children use the internet and technology, the risks and harms they may be exposed to, and how you can support them.

> Take our elearning course on online safety

NSPCC Helpline

Contact our free helpline if you need advice and support about a child or are worried about a child’s wellbeing. Our trained professionals will talk through your concerns and take action to protect the child if necessary.

Call 0808 800 5000, email help@nspcc.org.uk, or visit nspcc.org.uk/helpline.

Supporting parents and carers

We know that being online is a great way for children and young people to keep connected with friends and family at the moment, but being online more often can also increase exposure to risk.

Online safety measures

Children may ask for their parents’ login details or use parents’ devices to download or access apps. Explain to parents how they can set up parental controls and password-protect their devices.

Children may set up new social media profiles to keep in touch with friends, family or peers. Explain to parents how to set privacy and security settings on social media to prevent personal information being shared with strangers.

Keep talking

With children using new apps to communicate during the pandemic, it’s important that parents and carers continue to have regular conversations with children about what they are doing online and what social networks, apps and games they are using. They should listen to any worries or anxieties their children may have and let them know they can always come to them about anything.

We’ve updated our information on the NSPCC website about talking to your child about online safety to include information about coronavirus. It has advice for parents on:

Parents might also find our advice about inappropriate or explicit content helpful. It now includes advice on what to do if your child has seen inappropriate coronavirus content online.

> Read our online safety advice for parents and carers on the NSPCC website

Government guidance

The Home Office has published guidance for parents and carers about keeping children safe online during coronavirus (COVID-19) (Home Office, 2020)¹.

In England, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published guidance to help people stay safe online during the pandemic. This includes advice for parents and carers (DCMS, 2020)².

Supporting children and young people

Talking to children about online safety

You should continue to talk to the children and young people you work with about the benefits and risks of spending more time online.

It’s important to create an environment where children feel comfortable talking about online safety and raising any questions or concerns they may have.

Make sure that children know who they can talk to about online safety, whether that’s you, another trusted adult such as a parent or family member, or confidential services such as Childline.

Use our resources to help start conversations. Although these resourced are aimed at teachers they can be adapted for anyone talking to or teaching children about online safety.

The Stop, Speak, Support school pack aims to encourage 11- to 16-year-olds to be good digital citizens and take action if they encounter cyberbullying.
It’s Not OK is an 11+ teaching resource all about positive relationships. It includes a session about online relationships and grooming.
Our information and advice on how to have difficult conversations with children can help you prepare for conversations about challenging topics, such as coronavirus, and provides principles for how to speak with children sensitively.

Child-friendly information and advice

It might be helpful to direct children and young people to places where they can find out about more online safety.

Childline has age-appropriate information about online and mobile safety including:

feeling good on social media
staying safe online
online gaming
reporting nude images through the Report Remove tool
children’s privacy and digital footprint
deaf zone, with information and advice for children who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing.

Confidential support

Childline also provides different methods of support to children and young people, including:

peer support message boards, where children can talk about any online questions or concerns they may have
Ask Sam, where children can confidentially write to Childline about something on their mind or if they need support
ZipIt, an app for young people that helps them navigate intimate chats and sexting requests (for 12-year-olds and older)
free confidential support from a Childline counsellor through online chat, phone or email.