Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 clearly defines sexual abuse, children may or may not realise what is happening and activities can include non-contact activities too. Sexual abuse can take place in and outside the home including online. Perpetrators of sexual abuse can be male or female including older children.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 - sexual abuse definition:
"Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing, and touching outside of clothing.
They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse. Sexual abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children..."
The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse offers a wide variety of resources and information on the varying forms, signs, indicators and impact of child sexual abuse. Linked below is further information to support multi-agency practitioners in identifying and responding to child sexual abuse concerns or disclosures.
Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse - Research & Resources
CSA Centre Directory of support service in England
North-West Safeguarding Childrens Partnership Virtual CSA and Motivational Interviewing: Training Offer
Child Sexual Abuse - Hearing from a survivor
CSA Webinar - Responding to Harmful Sexual Behaviour in Education settings
CSA Webinar - Harmful Sexual Behaviour in online contexts
CSA Webinar - Online Offending - supporting the families following the arrest of a parent
CSA Webinar - Putting the CSA response pathway into practice
CSA Webinar - Responding effectively to sibling sexual behaviour
CSA Webinar - Using supervision and team meetings to improve the response to CSA
CSA think space - Creating Reflective Spaces to support practice
Merseyside CSA week - Session with Probation
Merseyside CSA week - Merseyside Child Sexual Abuse Commissioner and Provider Session and VCSFE
Merseyside CSA week - Early Years and Education CSA Practice Session
Strengthening Professional Practice - Children Sexual Abuse in the family environment
The Oldham Safeguarding Children Partnership recently carried out multi-agency case evaluation using the JTAI model, reviewing six cases to strengthen practice.
Findings from Oldham's December 2025 mock JTAI are now published, along with a learning pack which includes a learning pack, PowerPoint, and practitioner reflective tool.
Reflecting on your practice Child Sexual Abuse in the family environment.pdf
MACE (Mock JTAI) CSAFE Thematic Report Final.pdf
7 Minute Briefing - Child Sexual Abuse
1 Min Practice Guide Communicating with Children CSA
1 Min Practice Guide CSA Info Sharing
1 Min Practice Guide CSA Professional Curiosity
1 Min Practice Guide What is a Disclosure CSA
Harmful Sexual Behaviour
Responding to harmful sexual behaviour
If you have concerns about harmful sexual behaviour regarding a child or young person in Oldham, you should contact the MASH directly.
Reporting Concerns in Oldham
- Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH): Call 0161 770 7777.
Children display a range of common and healthy sexual behaviours at different stages of their development. If their behaviour is considered to be outside of this range, it may be called ‘harmful’ if it does, or has the potential to, harm them or others.
Research suggests that harmful sexual behaviour by children and young people accounts for a significant portion of child sexual abuse, so it is important that professionals know how to respond to concerns of harmful sexual behaviour. The CSA Centre has resources which can help.
It is likely that professionals working with children will need to respond to concerns of harmful sexual behaviour during their careers. To help you respond with confidence, Key messages from research on children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviour provides you with a quick-read accessible overview to guide evidence-informed professional practice.
Schools and professionals in education settings also play a pivotal role in identifying and responding to concerns about harmful sexual behaviour. For more information on supporting children following incidents of harmful sexual behaviour in practice, take a look at Safety planning in education guide.
Local Resources
National Resources
Stop it now harmful sexual behaviour prevention tool kit