This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Increased funding for children’s helplines is among the urgent measures being demanded by a group of cross-party MPs to tackle child sexual abuse during the coronavirus pandemic.

The intervention, which is led by the Liberal Democrats and backed by 37 MPs, including Conservative, Labour and Scottish National party representatives, comes after warnings from law enforcement and charities that child sexual abuse is likely to increase during the crisis.

ChildLine and the NSPCC have both reported that demand for their helplines has increased, while police chiefs have said some people may be “looking to exploit the coronavirus crisis to cause harm online”.

In a letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, the MPs call for funding to ensure helplines for children can continue to operate and for guidance to be issued to teachers and parents about helping children stay safe online.

In addition, the MPs have called for collaboration with the EU law enforcement agency, Europol, to tackle international gangs involved in child sexual abuse.

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Europol said it had seen “increased online activity by those seeking child abuse material”.

The UK will cease to belong to Europol, which helps member states combat serious international crime and terrorism, once the transition period for leaving the EU ends.

Christine Jardine, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, who wrote the letter to the home secretary, said: “A terrible and disturbing aspect of this pandemic is that illegal activity online, including child abuse, appears to be escalating.

“We need reassurance that the government is acting on warnings from the NCA, ChildLine and NSPCC, and is channelling appropriate additional funding to the organisations best placed to support children who may be facing abuse.

“Criminal gangs do not respect national borders, so we must continue to work with our international partners in Europe and beyond to bring them to justice. The UK must play a full part in this.

“We must also consider the awful risk of abuse within households escalating due to the lockdown. Charities like ChildLine and the NSPCC provide a literal lifeline for desperately vulnerable children and young people. Support for these services and – by extension – the vulnerable children who rely on them, must be absolute. The government must not shy away from leadership on this issue.”

Among the letter’s signatories are the Tory MPs Mike Penning and Daniel Poulter and the shadow minister for international development, Yasmin Qureshi.

This month the National Crime Agency (NCA) said its most recent intelligence showed there were at least 300,000 people in the UK who posed a sexual threat to children, either through physical contact abuse or online.

The agency revealed that early on during the Covid-19 crisis offenders were discussing opportunities over online chat forums to abuse children.

The NSPCC has said a shortage of moderators who combat sexual abuse online, combined with children spending more time on the internet at home, has created a “perfect storm”.

Last month Facebook’s founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said third-party US content moderators would be working from home and the company would increase its use of artificial intelligence to moderate content during the coronavirus crisis.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office is leading the work across government to keep children safe online throughout this health pandemic. We are working with law enforcement partners including the NCA and third-sector organisations including Childnet and the NSPCC to provide protection and support to carers, parents and children.

“The safety of children is paramount and we continue in all our efforts to ensure that there is no safe space online for sick predators to exploit children.”