We won’t stop until every child is safe online.
The COVID-19 pandemic means children are online more than ever. In the first year of the pandemic, our helpline saw a 45% increase in contacts from people worried about online sexual abuse.
Together we can make sure it’s safe for every child to go online. We’re here to support parents with online safety advice, and we’re here for children – to protect them and help them recover from abuse.
Help us protect children online
Online safety advice
Understanding online safety is tricky for all ages. We have advice to help you learn about staying safe online as a family.
We're working for a safer internet for children
Whether we're campaigning or counselling, we're fighting to protect children from online abuse and helping them recover if they've experienced it.
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Campaigning for change
We fight to change laws to make society safer for children. Our Wild West Web campaign has pushed for new regulations through the Online Safety Bill to make sure websites, apps and games are safe for children to use. But the draft Bill doesn’t go far enough to protect children.
Supporting children
We’re ready to listen, reassure, and take action to keep children safe online. Our services support families – to stop abuse from happening and help them recover if it does:
- Report Remove on Childline helps young people report sexual images of themselves to get them removed.
- Our In Ctrl programme for children and young people helps prevent online sexual abuse through group work and one-to-one support sessions.
Empowering parents
Our online safety hub offers advice for parents, from nudes to online games to parental controls. Our guides help you make informed decisions and help keep your child safe.
We also have resources for children and young people on Childline. Our courses, guides and events support professionals like teachers, counsellors, and educators with keeping children safe online.
Inappropriate and sexual behaviour online
Sometimes your child might see content online that's upsetting, like violent or pornographic content. We have advice to help.
Worried about something online?
It's hard to navigate online risks as a parent or carer. You’re not alone. We're here to help.
Need to talk to someone?
Call us on 0808 800 5000, email help@nspcc.org.uk or fill in our online form to get advice and support from safeguarding experts.
Online safety guides for parents
The online world changes so quickly it's hard to keep up. Our online safety guides help you navigate online risks – whether your kids are gaming, chatting, posting or streaming.
Get all the latest online safety advice, tips and campaign news
Online safety and safeguarding resources for professionals
If you work with children or in safeguarding, our NSPCC Learning site has tailored resources to help you keep children safe online.
From keeping children safe online during the coronavirus pandemic to protecting children from online abuse – we have advice, guides, draft policy statements, elearning courses and more to help you manage online risks.
See our online safety resources
Take our online safety training course
Our highly-rated interactive elearning course on online safety will teach you about how children and young people use existing technology, the risks involved and how to protect them from harmful content online in your context.
Need to talk to someone?
Call us on 0808 800 5000, email help@nspcc.org.uk or fill in our online form to get advice and support from safeguarding experts.
Online safety resources for children
Our Childline website has support and advice about online and mobile safety, like:
- how to stay safe online
- privacy settings and how to set them up
- how to feel good on social media
- online grooming and what to do if you’re worried
- advice about sexting, porn, gaming and more.
We also have tools and resources for children and young people:
- Report Remove
The Report Remove tool helps young people report and remove nude images or content shared online. - Coping Kit
The Coping Kit has offline activity ideas to help children and young people cope with feeling low or bored.
Get support from Childline
If you’re 19 or younger you can get confidential support from Childline counsellors about anything that worries you. We’re here to help 365 days a year. Call, email or chat with our counsellors online.
Online safety resources for children with SEND
We've partnered with Ambitious about Autism to create online safety tips, advice and activities for parents and carers of children with SEND, including children with dyslexia, autism and speech and language difficulties.
We must end online abuse
1 in 3 young people have seen something worrying or nasty online.1
Just under half of young people have been exposed to online pornography.2
In 2020/21 there were over 2,500 Childline counselling sessions about online bullying.3
In 2020, the Internet Watch Foundation confirmed over 153,000 reports made contained child sexual abuse images.4
Help us protect children online
References
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In 2020/21 there were a total of 2,508 counselling sessions with young people worried about bullying online.
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Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) (2021) The annual report 2020. Cambridge: IWF In 2020, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) confirmed 153,383 reports as containing child sexual abuse imagery or UK hosted non-photographic child sexual abuse imagery. This was a 16% increase from 2019.
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Martellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J.R., Davidson, J., Leyva, R. and Horvath, M.A.H. (2016) I wasn’t sure it was normal to watch it. London: NSPCC An online survey with 1,001 girls and boys aged 11-16 across the United Kingdom found that 476 young people (48%) had seen online pornography, whilst 525 (52%) reported not seeing online pornography. Children and young people were most likely to have first been exposed to pornography inadvertently (e.g. via pop-ups or shown by someone else unexpectedly)
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Ofcom (2021) Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2020. London: Ofcom. In 2020, 31% of surveyed 12- to 15-year-olds said they had seen something online that they found worrying or nasty in some way that they didn’t like.