One in Eight Children Aged 13 to 15 Received Sexual Messages Online, ONS Figures Show

One in eight children aged 13 to 15 in England and Wales received at least one sexual message online in the last 12 months, according to new analysis from the Office for National Statistics. The same data show that 48 per cent of children in that age group saw “a lot” or “a fair amount” of hateful content online targeted at people with certain characteristics over the same period — content covering racism, homophobia, ableism, transphobia and sexist material.

Girls are more likely than boys to receive sexual messages, the figures show, with around 13 per cent of girls compared with 10 per cent of boys in the 13 to 15 age group reporting at least one such message in the past year. And among those who did receive sexual messages, the problem was often repeated: about a quarter reported receiving more than 10 in the last 12 months, and around 19 per cent said some of those messages came from adults aged 18 or over.

The 12 per cent figure sits within a band the ONS has recorded across several survey years. Data for the year ending March 2020 put the proportion at around 11 per cent, while the year ending March 2023 bulletin recorded about 9.5 per cent — suggesting the rate fluctuates within a roughly 9 to 12 per cent range rather than showing a sharp upward trend.

The hateful content finding is harder to compare directly year-on-year, but converging evidence from Ofcom points in the same direction. Ofcom’s Children’s Media Literacy 2024 report found around 32 per cent of 8 to 17-year-olds had seen something worrying or nasty online in the past 12 months. Its Online Nation 2024 report recorded around 17 per cent of 13 to 17-year-olds encountering hateful content over a four-week window — a shorter reference period than the ONS’s 12-month measure, which may partly explain the gap between the two figures.

Because the ONS statistics cover all children in England and Wales, they apply equally to Kent’s large child population. No county-level breakdown is published, but the national proportions give schools, safeguarding teams and parents here an indicative picture of risk. Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership and Kent County Council’s children’s services are responsible for translating national evidence like this into local guidance for schools and youth services. Kent Police and child protection units can also draw on ONS and Ofcom data when prioritising online child protection operations.

Critics argue the self-reported survey figures may understate actual harm, since children sometimes normalise sexual messages or hateful content and don’t flag them. Others point out that regulatory and policing capacity may not yet match the scale implied by the percentages.

The Online Safety Act places new duties of care on platforms to assess and reduce risks of harmful content to children, with Ofcom acting as the statutory regulator. Whether enforcement keeps pace with the numbers the ONS is recording remains, for now, an open question.

Key information

• Children or parents in Kent who need to report online sexual messages can contact Kent Police on 101, or report anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
• The NSPCC helpline for adults concerned about a child is available on 0808 800 5000; children can contact Childline on 0800 1111
• School safeguarding leads are the first point of contact for concerns about online harms affecting pupils