THE number of recorded sex offences against children in Hampshire has increased by more than 50 per cent in five years, new figures have revealed.

Children’s protection charity the NSPCC say there were almost 2,800 recorded sex offences across Hampshire between 2018 and 2019.

In 2014/15, the figure was 1734, meaning a rise of 58 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

National figures also there were 76,204 recorded offences including rape, grooming and sexual assault against children in the UK in 2018/19 – an average of one every seven minutes.

And the figures show of those offences, 16,773 offences were recorded against children aged ten and under, with 341 of the offences against babies under the age of one.

Bosses at the charity say the figures reveal a “nationwide crisis” in the help for available to victims.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC CEO, said: “These children are bravely disclosing what happened to them but in too many cases there is not enough timely, joined up and child-friendly support. Instead they are shunted from overstretched service to service.

“We need a radical rethink in the way we help these young people, otherwise they could struggle for the rest of their lives with long term, deep seated trauma.”

The figures come from Freedom of Information requests submitted by the charity to all of the 45 police forces across the UK – of which 44 responded.

Following the release of the figures, the charity is calling for the provision of specialised services around the country, with an emphasis on early joined up support from police, local NHS services, children’s services and advocacy for children who have experienced sexual abuse, offered in child-friendly spaces.

According to the charity, such a partnership service is delivered in The Lighthouse in Camden, where all medical, advocacy, social care, police and therapeutic services are available to children and their families in one place.

The charity says this ‘one stop shop’ model connects timely therapy up with the needs of each child, with local NHS services from University College London Hospital and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trusts delivering in partnership with the NSPCC’s Letting the Future In (LTFI) service.

LTFI provides therapeutic support for children who have been sexually abused.

Charity bosses say young people aged 8 to 17-years-old who used the service showed a significant reduction in psychological and behavioural problems.

"Some of the increase will include non-recent child abuse cases, where we saw a rise in reporting following some high profile national cases.

"We have also seen our own high profile case involving Bob Higgins.

"Nationally there has been a sharp rise in non-recent child abuse allegations as victims have seen how effective the police have been in investigating these crimes.

"There has also been an improvement in the way we record allegations.

"We work in partnership with colleagues from social care, education, health and other agencies to reduce these types of crimes and to focus on our offender management processes with the probation service to prevent re-offending."