With the cost of living crisis continuing to affect families across the UK, children’s charities are concerned about how this might cause greater online harms to children.

Families are reporting struggles to afford out-of-school activities and other support during the school holidays which may result in children spending more time online.

Polling from Barnardo’s revealed that of the 1,000 parents questioned, 46% will struggle to find the money for family holidays and days out, whilst 21% will not be able to afford time off work to spend with their children.

Experts are determined that the cost of living crisis does not cause another surge of abuse that rose during the pandemic. Barnardo’s Chief Executive, Lynn Perry, described “a rise in new forms of exploitation - with children increasingly groomed, recruited and exploited over social media, chat rooms and on gaming platforms.”

In a survey of 729 children aged 11 to 17-year-olds, 71% said they will spend more time online during the school holidays, as opposed to during term time.

8% said that they would meet up with people they have met online this summer, while around 13% have said they already communicate with people they have met online but do not know in person.

At CARE, we are passionate about seeing such children better safeguarded. We are working to ensure that the Online Safety Bill, which is currently passing through parliament, is properly set up to protect children and vulnerable young people.

You can read more about CARE’s work on the Online Safety Bill on our website.