Prevention Programme 2025-26: A report for The Children's Society

Between October 2025 and June 2026 SocialQual evaluated The Children’s Society’s national Prevention Programme, with a focus on its work in the year 2025/26.  

The Programme, which is commissioned by the Home Office, works across England and Wales to prevent and disrupt child exploitation by improving professional practice and influencing systems.  As summarised by SocialQual “The behaviours it seeks to influence include earlier identification of exploitation, more child-centred language, stronger challenge to victim-blaming, routine use of disruption, better multi-agency information sharing and more confident safeguarding action by businesses and professionals.”

SocialQual conducted 30 interviews (22 with external partners and stakeholders and 8 with staff from The Children’s Society) and analysed survey data from nearly 4,000 responses. 

SocialQual’s work focused in particular on the following three questions: 

• What could they learn about the Programme’s overall contribution to the outcomes it works towards.  
• What does evidence suggest about how the Programme’s Youth Voice work is shaping practice, engagement or policy and what makes its Youth Voice approach distinctive? 
• What is the Programme’s staff team learning about what makes their work effective? 

SocialQual’s key findings

• The Programme had a broad reach: In 2025–26, the Programme delivered 370 tasks across England and Wales, combining learning sessions, workshops, guidance, campaigns and partnership activity with audiences including law enforcement, education, businesses, local authorities and the third sector. It is estimated to have directly reached c.55,000 people from a range of professions, including (but not limited to) law enforcement professionals, healthcare, education, and businesses in the night-time economy, including taxi drivers and private hire.
• Professional knowledge and confidence improved: Strong evidence of improved knowledge as a result of the Programme activities, especially from learning sessions which have a large reach.
• Disruption practice is gaining traction and becoming more routine: For some external partners, disruption is becoming more routine as a result of working with the Programme (including use of toolkits and more consistent discussion in meetings), with partners asking for further support.
• Multi‑agency working is strengthened: Partners describe better coordination, information sharing and value from cross‑sector learning and constructive challenge. This is often as a result of the Programme working with a set of partners over a longer period of time.
• Use of appropriate Language is improving: Participants report more child‑centred language, increased challenge of victim-blaming and adoption of language guidance/resources.
• Implementation is constrained by external barriers: Intended changes do not always translate into sustained practice due to capacity, stability and leadership buy-in at the external partner organisation. 
• Business awareness is improving, but evidence of behaviour change is patchy: Businesses – especially those in the night-time economy - report increased preparedness, with examples of follow‑up activity (e.g., additional training).
• Understanding of inequities is strengthening, with demand for practical tools: Partners want more applied training/resources (including for groups who experience unequal access to support) to move from awareness to action.
• Youth Voice work delivered by the Programme is a distinctive and valued contribution, supporting more child‑centred reflection and practice. Its distinctiveness lies in high‑quality facilitation and safeguarding, reaching young people “where they are”, and an intention to create feedback loops to young people (“you said / we did”). 

For more information, please download the full report which is available at the bottom of this page.