Councils are unwittingly acting as “recruiting sergeants” for drug gangs by sending vulnerable children to care homes miles away from where they live, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

Thousands of young people who are sent to children’s homes up to 100 miles (161km) from their homes are becoming magnets for paedophiles and gangs who use children to traffic drugs from inner-city areas to provincial towns, according to evidence sent to the all-party parliamentary group for runaway and missing children and adults.

More than 70% of the 41 police forces that responded to the inquiry said placing children out of area increased their risk of exploitation, often resulting in them being coerced into going missing.

The inquiry, supported by the Children’s Society, heard that local authorities may also be inadvertently opening up new county lines drug operations. These dealers will use dedicated mobile phone lines to take orders from drug users.

Quick Guide What is ‘county lines’ and who are the victims? Show What does the term ‘county lines’ mean? The name ‘county lines’ refers to the phone numbers, or lines, that criminal gangs which traffic drugs from urban to rural areas use to organise the sale of their wares. Gangs in cities such as London, Birmingham and Liverpool use children to deal mostly heroin and crack cocaine over a network of dedicated mobile phones to smaller towns and rural areas. Who are the victims and how are they recruited? The majority of victims groomed into working for gangs are 15- to 17-year-old boys but children as young as 11 have been safeguarded and girls have been targeted.

Many victims are recruited over social media, with offenders luring them with images of cash, designer clothing and luxury cars, but vulnerable girls and women are being targeted by men who create the impression of a romantic relationship before subjecting them to sexual exploitation. How big is the problem? In 2015, about seven forces reported county lines behaviour. Now, 44 forces, including British Transport Police, have recorded county lines behaviour on their turf. No one really knows how many young people across the country are being forced to take part. Children without criminal records – known as ‘clean skins’ – are preferred because they are less likely to be known to detectives. The Children’s Society says 4,000 teenagers in London alone are exploited through county lines, while the children’s commissioner estimated at least 46,000 children in England were caught up in gangs. How many children have been affected The number of individual phone numbers identified by law enforcement officials as being used on established county lines networks is about 2,000 – nearly three times the 720 previously established.



Police estimate the phone numbers are linked to about 1,000 branded networks, with a single line capable of making £800,000 profits in a year. The Children's Commissioner estimates at least 46,000 children in England are caught up in gangs.

It was found that relocating children who have been groomed to sell heroin and crack cocaine can create opportunities for criminals to expand their reach into rural areas.

There was evidence that county lines gangs have been sent to locations where young people are predominantly placed out of area to scout opportunities to recruit new members.

Ann Coffey, the MP who chaired the inquiry, said: “It is a national scandal that local authorities are unwittingly becoming recruiting sergeants for county lines drugs gangs by sending so many children miles away. It must stop.

“Children are being systematically failed and placed in grave danger by the very professionals who are there to protect them.”

Mark Russell, the chief executive of the Children’s Society, said the inquiry should be “a wake-up call for urgent action at both the national and local level … These children are some of the most vulnerable in society. It is vital their needs are put at the centre of all decisions about their placement.”

Despite a government promise to clamp down on out-of-area placements, numbers have soared since the parliamentary group first raised concerns in 2012. In 2018, 64% of young people in children’s homes lived out of area, up from 46% in 2012, data from the Department for Education shows.

Coffey said the situation was at “crisis point”. The report says the government must come up with an emergency plan to reduce the number of out-of-area placements, which do not keep children safe.

The report also focused on the growing number of young people sent to unregulated semi-independent accommodation. Eighty per cent of the 41 police forces that gave evidence expressed concern about these establishments because, unlike children’s homes, they are not regulated or inspected.

Police concerns about unregulated 16-plus accommodation included children left isolated and targeted by those wishing to exploit them for sex or to run drugs. One girl who had been sexually exploited was housed with a perpetrator of child sexual exploitation.

The inquiry recommends regulation and inspection of semi-independent accommodation for those aged 16 and over.

Rachel Dickinson, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “Safeguarding is everyone’s business and local authorities, the police, health services and schools, who share our legal safeguarding duty, and the community must work together to keep children safe, particularly if a child is new to the area.

“The suggestion in this report that local authorities are acting as ‘recruiting sergeants’ is wholly inappropriate and we are in dialogue with the report authors directly.”