Abuse by People Working with Children

People work with children across a range of institutions - such as schools, health services, sports clubs, care homes or religious institutions. In this context, sometimes abusers will harm a single child, but those who commit abuse in an institutional context often harm multiple children, and several abusers may be operating within/linked to the same institution. If the institution itself covers up or fails to identify and address abuse by those in or linked to the institution, the negative impact of the abuse is compounded. It’s important to remember that abuse might not necessarily occur within a specific institutional building or work setting. Abusers can use the positive social standing gained from the work to groom and harm others in any context. 

Keeping Children Safe in Education says it’s critical that settings create a culture in which all concerns about people working with children are shared responsibly with the right person, recorded and dealt with appropriately.  

An open and transparent culture should:  

• enable organisations to identify inappropriate, problematic or concerning behaviour early;  
• minimise the risk of abuse; 
• ensure that people working in, or on behalf of, the organisation understand their professional boundaries, act within those boundaries, and in accordance with the ethos and values of the institution. 

Be prepared to think the unthinkable. 

Child abuse is often under-reported, there are many forms of abuse and different contexts in which adults work with children, therefore it would be challenging to know exactly how prevalent abuse by people working with children is. That considered, there is some evidence which might help us understand the extent of this issue.

A study by the University of Greenwich on the retrospective sexual misconduct and harassment of students by teachers in secondary schools in Ireland and the UK found:

• 85% experienced sexual harassment;
• 21% experienced unwanted sexual attention;
• 14% experienced at least one form of online sexual harassment;
•  few students reported the incidents to the school, and for those that did, no action was taken. 

The Teaching Regulation Agency annual report for year end March 2025 identifies that in the year prior

• 826 investigations began into cases of alleged serious misconduct by teachers
•  297 hearings were held, resulting in 191 teachers being prohibited

Not all serious teacher misconduct relates to abuse of children, but some of the investigations and findings did relate directly to teachers abusing children. 

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its final Report in October 2022. The Inquiry published 19 reports on 15 investigations covering a wide range of institutions who worked or are still working with children. There was clear evidence of abuse by people working with children and institutions failing to protect children. 

When children are in your care you have a duty to keep them safe from harm and abuse. 

Every organisation working with children and young people should create a safe environment, supported by a culture of vigilance. This is not just early years, education settings and social care settings, but also community groups, hospitals, sports clubs and religious groups, etc. 

Everyone working in regulated activity should be vetted using safer recruitment processes (for education settings see Part 3 in Keeping Children Safe in Education), including checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). 

No matter how unthinkable, keeping children and young people safe from harm includes protecting them from potential abuse by your colleagues. Everyone undertaking regulated activity should be trained in child protection, be able to spot the signs of harm and abuse and know the appropriate action to take. 

The culture of vigilance extends to out-of-school clubs and activities held at any education setting run by an external provider. Governance bodies should ensure that the provider is compliant with the requirements of Keeping children safe in out-of-school settings, and that the leasing / transfer of control agreements reflect this. Allegations relating to any incident that happened when an individual / organisation was using the premises should be dealt with according to your the setting’s normal procedures, including informing the LADO.  

Age of consent

It’s a criminal offence to have a sexual relationship with a child under the age of 16. It’s also an offence for an adult to have a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 18 if the adult is in a ‘position of trust’. This also applies when the young person is under 18 but over the age of consent. (The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, 2000) 

Grooming behaviours 

Grooming doesn’t only focus on children and young people, but also involves the grooming of the victim’s families and the perpetrator’s colleagues to secure access and prevent detection. 

In 2024, Neil Foden was found guilty of 19 charges against four female students where he had been Headteacher, including 12 counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust. The Child Practice Review following his convictions found that there were 50 missed opportunities in relation to identifying and stopping the abuse. At various times, the Board of Governors, Senior Leadership Team, Designated Safeguarding staff and the Local Authority all failed to respond appropriately to the signs and indicators of Foden’s abuse. This was despite concerns being raised by the children themselves, staff members, parents and agencies such as Social Care, health and the NSPCC.

Foden had a long-standing reputation as a bully to both students and staff, he seemingly used fear and his forceful personality to silence people’s concerns and distract them from following even basic good safeguarding practices. 

Grooming does not always feature fear, perpetrators may aim to present as caring, hardworking staff and will employ tactics to gain power and one-to-one access to children within or outside the organisation. Whatever the position taken by the perpetrator, the aim and sadly often the result is that people don’t deeply question the harming person’s motives and actions.

Remember, settings such as schools, early years, colleges and care homes provide a regular point of contact with children and young people. Perpetrators can befriend victims with ease. The child’s trust can override the child’s ability to see through deception. The offending by Jeremy Forrest demonstrates this risk. He groomed his student to begin what she believed was a genuine romantic relationship, and easily encouraged her to run away with him abroad even after her parents and professionals were aware of the sexual harm risk. In this case, concerns were also raised about the school’s culture where staff “repeatedly failed to see the evidence of [the teacher’s] misconduct or to hear the concerns raised by students.“ 

To reduce the risks, individuals should: 

• Remain vigilant to the possibility of abuse by people working with children. 
• Ensure that you remain up to date in relation to signs and indicators of abuse and ask your DSL if anything at all is unclear.
• Remain aware of how to record and report any concerns about adults who work with children, including those that may meet the harm threshold and low-level concerns. This includes understanding the whistleblowing policy. In general, the following applies:
  
  If you have concerns about a colleague, they should be referred to the headteacher or principal in an education setting or to the manager/owner/designated person in other organisations.
  
  In education settings, if there are concerns about the headteacher or principal, this should be referred to the chair of governors, chair of the management committee, trustees or the proprietor of an independent setting as appropriate.
  
  If allegations of abuse are made against the headteacher or principal, where the headteacher is also the sole proprietor of an independent school, allegations should be reported directly to the LADO.  
• Understand what you should do if you think you’ve breached your staff/volunteer/contractor code of conduct and seek oversight about any issues in a timely manner. 
• Raise any concerns with the designated person, headteacher or principal, manager, etc., as appropriate. 
• Follow your managing allegations procedures. 
• If necessary, refer directly to the LADO and, if a crime has been allegedly committed, the police. 
• Keep taking action until you know children and young people are safe.