What is Grooming?

All those who work with children have a responsibility to keep them safe. To ensure that this responsibility is upheld, those with safeguarding duties must have an awareness of the different dangers that a child or young person can face. Grooming is a prevalent issue that impacts children all across the country. According to the NSPCC, there has been an 86% rise in online grooming crimes against children in the last six years. As such, it is essential that those who work with children understand what grooming is and the role they can play in preventing it. In this article we will outline everything you need to know about grooming and provide guidance on the steps you can take to prevent it in your setting. 

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What is Grooming?

Grooming is when someone builds a relationship with a child or young person so that they can abuse them and manipulate them into partaking in certain activities. These activities may be sexual or illegal in nature and can include abuse, exploitation or drug smuggling (county lines). Groomers will seek to build a seemingly trustworthy relationship rooted in a ‘shared mutual connection’ thereby making the child or young person more susceptible to coercion.

Children can be groomed online or in person, they can be groomed by a stranger who has built a relationship with them or someone previously known to them. Any child is at risk of being groomed, regardless of age or gender. However, some children are at greater risk such as:

• Children in care
• Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 
• Children who are already being subjected to abuse 

The NSPCC notes that this is because groomers will often exploit any vulnerability they can to increase the likelihood of a child becoming dependent on them. 

Grooming continues to be a significant issue across the UK and the number of offences relating to grooming topped 7,000 for the first time in 2023/24 with 7,062 Sexual Communications with a Child offences being recorded by the police. In 2025, Baroness Louise Casey published an audit on grooming gangs in the UK. The National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse examined failures that prevented abuse against children from being properly investigated and provided recommendations on changes that could help to prevent future lapses. In her report, Baroness Casey noted that whilst public attitudes have changed and children who would once have been called ‘child prostitutes’ are now recognised as victims of child sexual exploitation, there remains a hesitance in society to acknowledge and discuss child sexual abuse. This awkwardness hinders sustained improvement of services and instead results in instances of scandal, public outrage and a burst of government focus that is insufficient and short lived. 

Data from the report highlighted that:

• Approximately 500,000 children a year are likely to experience child sexual abuse of any kind. However for the vast majority of these children, their abuse is not identified or reported to the police.
• Over 100,000 offences of child sexual abuse and exploitation were recorded in 2024 with around 60% of those being contact offences.  
• There were 700 recorded offences of group-based child sexual exploitation (grooming) in 2023. 

The data shows that despite being a prolific issue, child sexual exploitation remains widely under-reported. The report suggests that flaws in data collection and confusing and inconsistent definitions have exacerbated this, rendering it unlikely that the figures above truly reflect the scale of group-based child sexual exploitation. 

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Types of Grooming

Children and young people can be groomed online, in person or even both; the grooming may begin anonymously online and then evolve into an in-person ‘relationship.’ Groomers may be known to the individual and a seemingly trustworthy figure such as a teacher, sport coach or religious leader, or they may be completely unknown to the child.

When a child is groomed online it is easy for the perpetrator to hide their true identity. They may be significantly older, hold a position of trust and authority that they are abusing or have a prior history of abuse; all of which can be easily hidden online. They may adopt a fake persona of a peer of a similar age with the intention of forming a friendship or romantic relationship with the child. Groomers will use social media, games and other forms of online communication and interaction to strengthen their relationship with the child, learning about their interests, spending time with them and deepening their ‘connection.’ This may be done by offering advice or guidance, showering the child with gifts and money or taking them on trips or holidays. 

According to the NSPCC the most common platforms that perpetrators use to target children include:

• Snapchat
• WhatsApp
• Facebook and Facebook Messenger
• Instagram

Groomers often seek to isolate a child from their friends and families, making the child feel dependent on them and like they have no one else to turn to. Groomers who are in ‘relationships’ with a child or young person may do this by claiming that they are the only ones who understand the child and that their friends and families are hindering their development in life. Comparatively, groomers may use shame, fear and guilt to frighten and intimidate a child into doing what they want. If that child has been successfully isolated from their support network, then the groomer can exercise tremendous power and control over them. 

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Signs of Grooming

It can be difficult to spot the signs of grooming for a myriad of reasons. A child may not see any issue with their relationship, the perpetrator may be very good at covering their tracks or the behaviour exhibited may appear to be part of normal development, such as a teenager becoming more interested in sex. Nevertheless, it’s important that you are able to recognise potential signs that someone is being groomed so that you can intervene and act accordingly. 

Depending on your setting it may be easier to spot some signs more than others. For example, a child spending a lot of time away from home with vague information as to their whereabouts may indicate that they are being groomed and potentially trafficked. However, if that child still regularly comes to school, a teacher is unlikely to know that this is occurring. It’s beneficial to take a holistic approach when looking for signs of grooming so that you can identify what signs you may be more likely to spot in your setting than others. This can encourage you to not ignore a sign or dismiss it as ‘low level’ as it may prove to be an integral part of a larger issue. 

Below you will find signs that indicate that a child may be being groomed. This list is not exhaustive and these signs in isolation do not immediately indicate that a child is being groomed. It’s important to remember that it’s unlikely that a child will know that they’ve been groomed. They may think their relationship with the individual is completely healthy and they may therefore downplay any concerns. It is therefore vital that you can spot signs of grooming yourself as the child or young person may be too involved to identify the impropriety of the relationship. 

Signs of grooming include:

• Being secretive about how they’re spending their time
• Having an older boyfriend or girlfriend
• Having money or new things (clothes, tech etc.) that they can’t or won’t explain
• Underage drinking or drug taking
• Spending more or less time online or on their devices
• Being upset, withdrawn or distressed
• Age inappropriate sexualised behaviour, language or knowledge of sex
• Spending extended periods of time away from home

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How to Prevent Grooming

Baroness Casey’s audit found that systemic failings had contributed to the prevalence of grooming in the UK. Her report suggested 12 recommendations to address these failings and bring justice to victims and survivors. These recommendations include changes to the law and the creation of targeted investigations. Grooming must be tackled at a national and legislative level in order to be effectively prevented and reduced and many of these steps are outside of the remit of those with day-to-day safeguarding responsibilities. 

However, that is not to say that there are not steps that can be taken in your setting to help prevent grooming. These steps include:

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Children and young people can be groomed online or in person, by a stranger or a ‘trusted’ individual. Informing children of the potential dangers of the internet and the signs that someone is trying to manipulate them, can help to keep them safe and provide them with the tools to identify inappropriate behaviour before it escalates further. All those with safeguarding responsibilities must know how to recognise the signs of grooming, the steps they can take to prevent it and how to report any concerns that they may have.

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Further Resources:

• Internet Safety Posters for Schools
• Signs of Abuse in Children
• Safeguarding Courses