Last updated by charlotte.lang@essex.gov.uk on Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Support Matters is the most comprehensive study to date of the current landscape of service provision in response to child sexual abuse in England & Wales.

The CSA Centre found 468 services providing support to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their families, yet an estimated 500,000 children will suffer some form of child sexual abuse every year.

From the research it is hoped that there will be a better understanding of the provision and availability of support in England and Wales for people affected by child sexual abuse. By exploring the challenges that services face in relation to meeting demand, securing funding, and recruiting and retaining staff, the report highlights the precarious environment in which many of them operate – and recommends how policymakers, funders and commissioners of child sexual abuse support can address this. 

Key findings:

• A ‘postcode lottery’ is evident in terms of the likelihood that a victim/survivor can access support that meets their needs, although there is shortage everywhere.
• Four-fifths of services were in the not-for-profit sector.
• Services were scarce relative to demand and need, with huge geographical variation: in each region, it's estimated that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 victims/survivors for every service providing support.
• Fewer than a quarter of services were operating across multiple regions, and most had limited capacity: almost half had supported fewer than 100 people in relation to child sexual abuse during 2021/22.
• There were slightly more services for children – mainly older children – than for adult victims/survivors, but an apparent lack of services supporting parents of sexually abused children. One in seven services was focused primarily on the needs of women/girls, with far fewer focused on boys/men or on minority ethnic groups.