Record funding to tackle grooming gangs and child sex abuse

The Home Office has announced £100 million to fight child sex offences and protect victims and survivors, including £38 million for Operation Beaconport.

A historic £100 million will drive a crackdown on child sexual abuse, including tracking down vile grooming gang members, protecting victims and bringing offenders to justice. Perpetrators who thought they got away with horrific grooming gang offences will be held to account as closed cases are reopened.

Operation Beaconport will receive a tenfold cash injection, building on the £4 million the operation received when it launched last autumn. £38 million has been set aside for the National Crime Agency (NCA) and operational partners to reopen and investigate cases and put more offenders behind bars. It is focused on furthering critical work to protect victims wherever abuse takes place – in our communities, families, online and institutions.

Police forces in England and Wales will also have greater access to pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) technology to weed out and bring predators to justice more rapidly. To support this, the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), will receive £9.3 million this year.

This includes a suite of advanced, AI-enabled intelligence tools, ensuring all forces, regardless of size or local resources, can use cutting-edge technology to pursue offenders faster and better safeguard victims.

This enables officers to analyse large datasets, translate foreign-language material in seconds, and identify patterns and relationships between suspects. By reducing manual processes and unifying access to proven tools, the programme focuses on accelerating investigations and creates a more consistent, intelligence-led national response.