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What is criminal exploitation?

Criminal exploitation of children (under 18 years) or vulnerable adults (18 years and over) is when an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive the child or vulnerable adult into criminal activity, for the financial or other advantage of the exploiter.

Criminal exploitation takes a variety of forms, but always involves the exploitation of an individual to engage in criminal activity for the benefit of the exploiter. It often involves some form of exchange where a victim is asked or told to do something in exchange for something they want or need. It is irrelevant whether the person consents to any part of the relevant action therefore a person receiving something in exchange for their involvement does not mean that they are not a victim of exploitation.

Criminal exploitation is not currently a criminal offence but is a component part of the offence of human trafficking.

Serious organised crime is an issue for the whole of Scotland and disproportionately impacts those who are more vulnerable within communities, as well as having a greater presence in areas that are socially and economically disadvantaged. Serious organised crime is no respecter of borders or any of society’s norms and Scotland is not immune from its impact.

The Scottish Government and its partners on the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce (SOCT) are fully committed to tackling serious organised crime and reducing the harm it causes to our communities.

Policy and guidance

The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (updated 2023) - This guidance describes the responsibilities and expectations for all involved in protecting children and will support the care and protection of children.

Getting it right for every child - Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) is our commitment to provide all children, young people and their families with the right support at the right time. This is so that every child and young person in Scotland can reach their full potential.

Criminal Exploitation: Practitioner Guidance - This guidance was published in 2023 to support a shared understanding of criminal exploitation to help assist with early identification of those at risk from serious organised crime. This guidance also applies to criminal exploitation which is not linked to serious organised crime.

Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 - An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision about human trafficking and slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour, including provision about offences and sentencing, provision for victim support and provision to reduce activity related to offences.

Inter-agency guidance on child trafficking - A toolkit designed as Scottish practice guidance to be read in conjunction with the Scottish Government National Child Protection Guidance in Scotland and other relevant national and international papers.

Supporting documents - Justice for children and young people: vision and priorities 2024-26 - This vision represents a shared foundation between the Scottish Government and partners to continue to support the agenda to keep children out of the criminal justice system and promote the use of the Whole System Approach.

Child sexual abuse and child sexual and criminal exploitation - Child protection - Policy actions by the Scottish Government in relation to child sexual abuse, child sexual and criminal exploitation.

Professional learning

Specific professional learning can be available from your local authority safeguarding in education lead. Please contact Education Scotland enquiries for more information.

London Grid for Learning Spotlight on Safeguarding - Spotlight on Safeguarding - Chicken-Shop Grooming - LGfL TV - Powered by Planet eStream

NCA Alert for Education Settings - Information for education professionals to recognise the signs of this form of abuse, understand how to respond, and increase awareness and help seeking behaviours amongst children and young people.

Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: how to respond to an incident (overview) (updated March 2024) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What You Need to Know About Child Trafficking | NSPCC

Learning and teaching resources

I Am Me Scotland Learning Platform - Online learning platform containing resources for education and law enforcement.

UK Safer Internet Centre - Resources focussed on Financially motivated sexual extortion. This is a type of online blackmail, often referred to as ‘sextortion’. This type of crime involves an adult offender threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of an individual, unless they pay money, meet another financial demand (for example, purchasing a pre-paid gift card). Victims of any age and gender can be targeted.

Resource Library (ceopeducation.co.uk) - An education programme, providing training, resources and information to professionals working with children, young people and their families.

Who can help?

Staff have a responsibility to follow local child protection procedures for reporting and sharing concerns around any form of child abuse.

Within education, there is a key focus on safeguarding and child protection. All school and early years establishments are supported to evaluate and improve their practice in relation to safeguarding and child protection through How good is our school? (fourth edition) and How good is our early learning and childcare?

Education practitioners should also work with key community partners and agencies to understand these complex issues and to develop confidence in responding to any concerns they have.

Improvement questions

• To what extent do we review our safeguarding procedures and incidents as part of our self-evaluation processes? This includes the review of any incidents of criminal exploitation.
• How confident are staff in recognising the variety of forms of child criminal exploitation?
• How effectively do we support children and young people to recognise if they or their friends are being criminally exploited and how to report this.