Hundreds of Calls Made to Sexual Abuse Helpline

The NSPCC's Report Abuse in Education helpline has handled hundreds of incidents

Hundreds of calls have been made to the UK helpline about sexual abuse in schools. Incidents including name-calling, online abuse, unwanted touching, assault and rape have been reported to the helpline.

The national helpline was set up after the Everyone’s Invited website revealed widespread sexism, misogyny and abuse in education. Since then, 861 calls have been made to the helpline and handled by the NSPCC, the children’s charity, which runs the helpline. Out of these, a total of 150 were so serious they were referred to police and other agencies for further investigation.

Further cases where information about the caller was known, 142 were from an adult or child victim, of whom 85 were female, 50 male, two transgender and five unknown. Another 81 contacts were from a parent concerned about their child.

The helpline was planned to run until the end of December; however, the time limit has been extended because of continuing demand. The helpline will therefore continue to operate “for the foreseeable future” and staff will continue to help victims report allegations to the authorities, signpost them to recovery services and support parents.

Staff have dealt with calls from victims of both recent and historical abuse. Many victims who reported abuse that happened in the past said they felt they couldn’t report it at the time, or they had tried but were not listened to.

According to The Guardian, the NSPCC’s helpline manager, Sandra Robinson, even encourages people to get in touch if they have experienced abuse in the past or if they have concerns about a young person.

Young people and adults can contact Report Abuse in Education on 0800 136 663 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.

The NSPCC also offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331.