• Child abuse in the UK - the facts
• Information about sexual abuse and its impact
• Helpful books about sexual abuse. How to cope and survive
• Information to help partners of victims and survivors
• Web Resources and support groups
• Mental health problems resulting from abuse
• Bullying - how to stop it
• Domestic abuse and its consequences
• Racial abuse - recognising it and what to do about it
• Child abuse and the Catholic Church
• Child Abuse and the Salesians of Don Bosco
• Useful links to other web sites
• The law and child abuse victims

Publications

Key facts and figures from the NSPCC

Key facts and figures about child abuse and the NSPCC

What you need to know about Child abuse
Information about the NSPCC

What you need to know about Child abuse

• Each week one child will be killed by their parent or carer in England and Wales.
• Six per cent of children experience frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood.
• Eighteen per cent of children experience some absence of care during childhood.
• More than 25 per cent of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age.
• Thirty one per cent of children experience bullying during childhood.
• NSPCC teams and helplines accepted more than 24,000 requests for help in 2003-04.
• NSPCC research shows that a significant minority of children suffer serious abuse or neglect:

• Seven per cent of children experience serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers during childhood.
• One per cent of children experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer and another three per cent by another relative during childhood. Eleven per cent of children experience sexual abuse by people known but unrelated to them. Five per cent of children experience sexual abuse by an adult stranger or someone they have just met.
• Six per cent of children experience serious absence of care at home during childhood.
• Six per cent of children experience frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood.¹

• Sixteen per cent of children experience serious maltreatment by parents, of whom one third experience more than one type of maltreatment.²
• Latest available figures show that there are 32,700 children on child protection registers in the UK as at 31 March 2003.³
• Nearly 79,000 children are currently looked after by local authorities in the UK.⁴
• Every week in England and Wales one to two children will die following cruelty.⁵
• There are on average 80 child homicides recorded in England and Wales each year.⁶
• On average one child is killed by their parent or carer every week in England and Wales.⁷
• The people most likely to die a violent death are babies under one year old, who are four times more likely to be killed than the average person in England and Wales.⁸
• Three-quarters of sexually abused children do not tell anyone about the abuse at the time, and around a third still have not told anyone about their experience(s) by early adulthood.⁹
• More than a quarter of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age. ¹⁰
• Thirty one per cent of children experience bullying during childhood; a further seven per cent are discriminated against; and 14 per cent are made to feel different/like an outsider. Forty three per cent experience at least one of these things during childhood.¹¹
• NSPCC teams and Helplines accepted over 24,000 requests for help in 2003-04.¹²
• The National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse estimates that the cost of child abuse to statutory and voluntary agencies is £1 billion per year in the UK.¹³

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¹ Cawson et al., 2000, Child Maltreatment in the UK: A Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect, NSPCC.
² Cawson, 2002, Child Maltreatment in the Family: The Experience of a National Sample of Young People, NSPCC
³ DfES, 2004, Statistics of Education: Children looked after by Local Authorities, Year Ending 31 March 2003 Volume 1: Commentary and National Tables, National Assembly for Wales, 2003, Adoptions, Outcomes and Placements for Children Looked After by Local Authorities: Year ending 31 March 2002, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (N.I.), 2003, Community Statistics 1 April 2002 - 31 March 2003, Scottish Executive, 2002, Children Looked After Statistics 2001-2002. 
⁴ DfES, 2004, Statistics of Education: Children looked after by Local Authorities, Year Ending 31 March 2003 Volume 1: Commentary and National Tables, National Assembly for Wales, 2003, Adoptions, Outcomes and Placements for Children Looked After by Local Authorities: Year ending 31 March 2002, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (N.I.), 2003, Community Statistics 1 April 2002 - 31 March 2003, Scottish Executive, 2002, Children Looked After Statistics 2001-2002. 
⁵ Office of National Statistics, Mortality Statistics.
⁶ Home Office (2004) Crime in England and Wales 2002-3: Supplementary Volume 1, Homicide and Gun Crime.
⁷ Home Office (2004) Crime in England and Wales 2002-3: Supplementary Volume 1, Homicide and Gun Crime.
⁸ Home Office (2004) Crime in England and Wales 2002-3: Supplementary Volume 1, Homicide and Gun Crime.
⁹ Cawson et al., 2000, Child Maltreatment in the UK: A Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect, NSPCC. 
¹⁰ Harris and Grace, 1999, A question of evidence? Investigating and prosecuting rape in the 1990s, Home Office.
¹¹ Cawson et al., 2000, Child Maltreatment in the UK: A Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect, NSPCC.
¹² NSPCC Services for Children and Young People Annual Statistics 2003-4.
¹³ National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention of Child Abuse, 1996, Childhood Matters: Report of the National Commission of Enquiry into the prevention of Child Abuse.

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