Child victims of online sexual abuse are being inadequately protected from further harm because police forces are struggling to cope with an increase in this crime, his majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary has warned.

Michelle Skeer said: “Without investment and coordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.”

She said the Home Office and police leaders “must act urgently” to tackle a crime that could have “a lasting and devastating impact on children”.

Forces are failing to keep pace with a two-thirds annual increase in referrals for online child abuse, according to a report by the inspectorate. Forces were overstretched, with investigators managing up to 54 active cases at a time, it found.

Digital examination of suspects’ devices could take up to two years, leaving children “without adequate safeguarding for prolonged periods”, the report said.

It said such delays were “unacceptable” and “may mean that a child hasn’t been safeguarded for the time it has taken to examine the devices”.

The inspectorate also criticised some forces for prolonging the risk to victims by asking suspects to attend voluntary interviews instead of arresting them. It said arresting suspects allowed for home searches, the seizure of devices and the imposition of bail conditions that restrict behaviour.

Without arrest and bail conditions, suspects could continue to access children online, the report said. Forces were avoiding arrests because of high workloads, the report found. Some forces told inspectors that they did not use bail unless the suspect was a high risk or had direct access to children. But the inspectorate said this still allowed suspects to continue abuse online.

Skeer described online child abuse as “one of the most serious, fastest growing crimes facing society”. The number of referrals for online abuse increased from 12,469 in 2023 to 20,704, in 2024, the report said. Over the past decade the number of registered sex offenders increased by 48% to more than 73,000, it said.

The report found the increase was driven in part by developments in technology and AI. It said: “AI is changing the way offences are committed … Offenders use AI to create indecent images of children and to manipulate innocent images of children into indecent ones.”

It added: “Given the speed of technological advances, there is a danger that without dedicated and continued focus, police forces won’t be able to keep pace with the use of technology by offenders to commit crime.”

The use of technology to investigate this crimes was also patchy, the report found. It said some forces lacked “basic digital triage equipment to check suspects’ devices”.

During one inspection, offender managers were seen manually examining devices without digital training.

The report recommended creating a new national course for investigators on online child sexual abuse and conducting a review of staffing levels to make workload more manageable.

It said: “During our inspections, we found that many forces didn’t have enough officers and staff to investigate online sexual abuse, even after we had highlighted that their staffing models were insufficient. Not having enough officers and staff with the skills needed can lead to missed safeguarding opportunities.”

It also highlighted good practice in some forces including the use of polygraphs, or lie detectors, on suspects. It said: “Forces that use this tool have been able to identify new offences that they then investigate, making sure that victims are safeguarded. All forces should have access to this useful intelligence tool.”