Source · HMICFRS

The policing response to the investigation of online child sexual abuse and the management of registered sex offenders

15 April 2026 Thematic Inspection 16 recommendations

National — applies to all forces

Recommendations

1 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should: review existing practices to make sure they use the Kent internet risk assessment tool and the prioritisation tool to prioritise referrals for all children and adult suspects; review their procedures to make sure there is regular assessment of intelligence and risk for online child sexual abuse and exploitation suspects both prior to enforcement and throughout the lifecycle of the investigation; and make sure investigations allocated outside online child sexual abuse and exploitation teams remain under the team’s management oversight, including a central escalation policy.

10 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should make sure that: home visits are unannounced and carried out in pairs to comply with the College of Policing authorised professional practice for the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders; visits that don’t comply with the authorised professional practice for the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders are authorised, the rationale is recorded on the Violent and Sex Offender Register and that a system is in place to allow assessment of the decision; any reactively-managed registered sex offenders meet the conditions set out in the authorised professional practice for the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders; and they carry out and assess Police National Database checks on registered sex offenders.

11 Open By 30 April 2027, the College of Policing in conjunction with the National Police Chiefs’ Council should review the authorised professional practice for the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders with forces and publish an updated version.

12 Open By 30 April 2027, the College of Policing should: make sure that a bespoke national digital training course is mandated for management of sexual offenders and violent offenders offender managers; and develop a bespoke management of sexual offenders and violent offenders supervisors’ training package to make sure that they have sufficient training and skills to consistently carry out their roles.

13 Open By 30 April 2027, the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council should carry out a cost-benefit analysis for a procurement exercise for all 43 forces in England and Wales to purchase digital triage equipment collectively, rather than individually, for investigating online child sexual abuse and the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders.

14 Open By 31 December 2026, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing should develop a risk assessment tool that allows each of the 43 forces in England and Wales to consistently assess and prioritise the submission and examination of digital devices in a way that also effectively reduces the existing backlog.

15 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should: make sure psychological health screening is mandatory and provided at least annually (as per guidance from the National Police Wellbeing Service) for management of sexual offenders and violent offenders and online child sexual abuse and exploitation team members and supervisors with access to follow-on well-being services; and make sure that management of sexual offenders and violent offenders and online child sexual abuse and exploitation team supervisors have regular trauma-informed training and knowledge sharing to identify signs of trauma, burnout and other well-being issues and that they can refer to and access timely support and treatment where needed.

16 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should make sure that they have a strong service level agreement in place with the Probation Service and that they have a two-way process for review, feedback and escalation to make sure safeguarding opportunities aren’t being missed.

2 Open By 30 April 2027, forces should review existing staffing levels in online child sexual abuse and exploitation teams to make sure that they have enough officers and staff to manage demand effectively and that workloads are manageable

3 Open By 31 December 2026, the College of Policing should: review the ‘Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation: Practice Advice for Investigating Online CSAE’ and create an authorised professional practice for this area in conjunction with this advice; and implement a national investigators’ course for the management of online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

4 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should: review their online child sexual abuse procedures and make sure that arrest and bail is considered and recorded for all suspects; and make sure that when online child sexual abuse suspects are on bail, conditions are proactively checked at least once per applicable bail period.

5 Open By 30 April 2027, forces should make sure that third-party provision is in place to support families of online child sexual abuse suspects and that leaflets with contact details of support organisations are available.

6 Open By 30 October 2026, forces should: review their operating models and governance frameworks to make sure they have a consistent approach to managing registered sex offenders across all teams, including use of the Violent and Sex Offender Register in line with Home Office standards; and review the data they collect, how they collect it and how it is presented and make sure that it represents what is on the Violent and Sex Offender Register to accurately assess and manage the risk of registered sex offenders.

7 Open By 30 April 2027, the Home Office should continue to consult with police forces on the need to fund further development of the new Multi-Agency Public Protection System after its introduction, including enhanced management information to help forces properly manage the risk posed by registered sex offenders.

8 Open By 31 October 2026, forces should: use previous demand trends and review predicted demand for management of sexual offenders and violent offenders teams for five years to make sure that they have enough offender managers and supervisors to manage this; make sure that management of sexual offenders and violent offenders team abstractions are recorded, reviewed, don’t happen on a regular basis and don’t have a negative effect on workload completion; make sure that management of sexual offenders and violent offenders teams have manageable numbers of outstanding active risk management systems assessments, risk management plans and visits and that these are assessed by both risk level and how overdue they are; and make sure that supervisors are completing reviews of active risk management systems assessments, risk management plans and visits promptly and within one month.

9 Open By 30 April 2027, the Home Office in conjunction with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council should evaluate the potential for an effective and expedited process for police application to the courts to remove Sexual Harm Prevention Orders for appropriate cases.