Despite government legislation placing great importance on schools’ roles in safeguarding children (Keeping Children Safe in Education – first published in March 2015, with most recent updates in May 2022), lack of funding, as well as massive deficits in school budgets, means many schools are struggling to meet the pastoral and support staffing needs to keep their young people safe.

With cuts to youth support teams in local authorities, schools are placed in an unwinnable position, by not having access to enough internal or external support for their most vulnerable pupils. And even if a school is concerned about a child, and is able to contact an outside agency, the level of perceived risk needed to reach the threshold for intervention, is much higher than many would like to believe.

The current cost of living crisis which is affecting households throughout the country, is also forcing parents to work longer hours in order to be able to meet costs. But as director of Rotherham-based charity Diversify, Sara Cunningham explains, “That’s when a gang member is outside the school gates or the takeaway”. However recruitment is not limited to out-of-school hours, Diversify also claim to have pictures of students being passed packages from gangs through the school fences at lunchtime.

And the problem is not just limited to urban settings or poverty-stricken places.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders has described county lines as “rife” in rural areas due to less support available from under-funded social service and police. However, at a recent meeting of head teachers from the north of England, one head teacher from North Yorkshire attributed the targeting of rural areas to the lack of after school activities in the community for young people.

But, with technology playing such a massive part in the lives of young people, gangs are able to target young people in every corner of the country, through social media. By advertising their activities as money making opportunities, gangs are able to entice young people as young as 12.

Despite a potential prison sentence for drug trafficking, and the strong link between county lines and violent crimes, young people are still finding themselves involved in this type of criminal activity, showing just how desperate these times really are.

With triple the number of children under 16 arrested for drug dealing in Essex alone, “these gangs see children as expendable commodities” explains author Shay Doyle (not his real name), in his new book after time as an undercover police officer in Manchester.