Research Report 128: The economic and social cost of contact child sexual abuse

This report provides an estimate of the financial and non-financial (monetised) costs relating to all children who began to experience contact sexual abuse, or who continued to experience contact sexual abuse, in England and Wales in the year ending 31st March 2019. This is estimated to be at least £10.1 billion (in 2018/19 prices). This estimate includes the costs of this cohort being victimised in previous and future years, in addition to lifetime consequences as a result of experiencing child sexual abuse (CSA). It should be noted that due to the way some costs are incurred over a victim’s lifetime this cannot be used as an annual or an in-year cost.

The authors are aware that this approach may seem reductive to those that have experienced child sexual abuse, and recognise the profound human costs of child sexual abuse to victims and survivors. The impacts of CSA are large and far reaching, and the entirety of this cannot be captured in this report. However, in assessing the cost of CSA in this way we are better able to articulate the cost of CSA on both victims and survivors, and the wider economy, demonstrating the impact in a clear and quantifiable manner.