Children’s Crime Survey moves online as figures show nearly half of 10 to 15 year olds have witnessed youth violence

The Office for National Statistics has published first estimates from a redesigned Children’s Crime Survey for England and Wales, which has shifted from face-to-face interviews to an online format after data collection was paused during the pandemic.

Nearly half of children aged 10 to 15 — 48.3 per cent — had seen or heard about a violent incident involving people they knew of a similar age in the preceding 12 months, according to the most recent pre-redesign figures from the Office for National Statistics. A further 26.2 per cent had seen online content showing violence between groups of young people or drug dealing. The ONS posted an announcement about the new survey format on 4 February 2026, with Caroline Youell from the ONS reflecting on the findings.

Data collection for the redesigned Children’s Crime Survey for England and Wales began in December 2025. The survey has been decoupled from the adult Crime Survey for England and Wales and now uses the NHS Personal Demographic Service to draw its sample, rather than interviewing children found in households already selected for the adult survey. ONS describes the initial results as “official statistics in development”, meaning methods are still being refined and figures are subject to revision.

The pause matters. Children’s data collection stopped between March 2020 and April 2022 during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving a two-year gap in estimates and prompting ONS to build a more resilient, online-first approach. The first module covers online activity, exposure to harmful content, perceptions of safety, and personal wellbeing — with crime victimisation and bullying measures to follow in later modules. First findings are expected in autumn 2026.

The pre-redesign figures give a sense of what the new survey will be measuring. Nine per cent of children aged 10 to 15 avoided travelling alone because they were concerned about people carrying weapons, and 5.8 per cent avoided doing so because of gangs. Around 14.6 per cent felt they were likely or very likely to encounter people involved in gangs in daily life — rising to 17.5 per cent among boys, compared with 11.6 per cent among girls. And 0.5 per cent reported carrying a knife in the last 12 months.

For bodies such as Kent County Council, Kent Police, and NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, the survey’s findings feed directly into youth safety strategies and safeguarding policy. Because the new design samples children through national administrative data rather than household interviews, it may reach families in Kent that were previously harder to contact — though county-level breakdowns are likely to remain limited or classified as experimental statistics, given sample size constraints.

Youth justice figures add wider context. In the year ending March 2024, there were around 35,600 proven offences committed by children resulting in a caution or sentence at court across England and Wales. Children’s proven reoffending rate, at around 31.8 to 32.5 per cent, sits above the adult rate of around 28 per cent, and has risen for at least two consecutive years, according to Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice data.

Some consultation responses on the survey’s redesign raised concerns about whether an online-only approach might affect data quality or comparability with older estimates. ONS has said the move is intended to produce a larger and more representative sample with better response rates — but because the new figures carry “in development” status, direct comparisons with earlier CCSEW data should be treated with caution.