In the year ending February 2026, the Children’s Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that:
- 12% of children aged 13 to 15 years received at least one sexual message in the last 12 months, with a higher proportion among girls (13%) than boys (10%).
- Of these children, 25% received sexual messages more than 10 times, and almost 1 in 5 (19%) received them from adults aged 18 years and over.
- 69% of children aged 10 to 15 years saw or heard about a fight or other type of physical violence between their peers, in the last 12 months.
- 20% of children aged 10 to 15 years thought they were very or quite likely to see people involved in gangs in their local area; 9% were worried a lot or a fair amount about gangs in their local area, in the last 12 months.
- 25% of children aged 10 to 15 years thought it was very or quite likely that people carry weapons in their local area; 15% were worried a lot or a fair amount about people carrying weapons in their local area, in the last 12 months.
- 1% of children aged 10 to 15 years carried a weapon in the last 12 months; this was more likely among boys (1.1%) than girls (0.4%).
- 37% of children aged 10 to 15 years saw violent or criminal content online in the last 12 months; the most common type was fights or other physical violence between people or groups of people (34%).
- 48% of children aged 13 to 15 years saw a lot or a fair amount of hateful content online targeted at people with certain characteristics, in the last 12 months; 15% saw a lot or a fair amount of sexual content, with boys more likely to have searched for it (18%) than girls (11%).
