Rise in number of girls being identified as victims in county lines exploitation, data shows | County lines
Figures show a growing number of girls are being identified as victims of exploitation at the county line.
Data from charity Catch22, which provides support services to national county lines, said girls and young women will account for 22% of the caseload in 2025, up from 15% the previous year.
The organization supports the government in its attempt to put pressure on implementation within the scope of the district borders program.
The programme, which was launched in 2019 under the Conservatives and continued under the Labor Party, aims to stop gangs transporting drugs from urban areas to rural areas, often using special phone lines. These gangs often force vulnerable young people to transport drugs and money across the country.
But Catch22 said the “gendered understanding” of the issue meant services often failed to recognize girls and young women as victims.
He said around half of boys applying for county lines received support from the National Referral Mechanism, a government project designed to help victims of modern slavery, but this only applied to one in six girls.
Marike van Harskamp, head of policy at Catch22, said: “Part of the problem is that there is a very sexist understanding of criminal exploitation and borough restrictions and that it only concerns boys, which often means girls are not identified correctly.
“We know that girls’ experiences of their involvement in criminal child abuse and county lines are somewhat more complex and that there are overlapping issues that persist.
“An important way girls become victims of county lines and criminal abuse is through the so-called boyfriend pattern. This is similar to child sexual abuse – being raised in what they think is a relationship, then being coerced into criminal activity without even realizing it – moving drugs and moving money in the county lines model.”
The government said police dispersed county lines in record numbers last year. New data showed 2,740 county lines were closed, 1,657 gang leaders were charged and 961 knives were seized in 2025. It plans to invest more than £34 million in the county lines program this year.
“The success is reflected in the numbers, but there is more to be done,” Van Harskamp said. “Our service sees children as young as seven being taken into care. So it’s really important to frame exploitation within borough boundaries as a form of child abuse that forces children to do things they should never do. We see this across genders.”
Van Harskamp said grooming on county lines mostly happens on social media platforms like Snapchat, and gangs often target those with “additional vulnerabilities.”
“What else is going on in their lives that makes them more vulnerable to abuse?” he said. “This could be mental health, it could be substance misuse, it could be because they are experienced in care and their arrangements are not safe, it could be because they are not properly educated or they have unsafe peer relationships.
“The earlier the risk is identified, the better. We’re seeing very significant long-term impacts on mental health because of the trauma of this. As long as there are mental health issues, that also means they’re at higher risk of being stuck in this cycle of exploitation.”
“Specialist mental health care is needed for victims of abuse… We know there is a relationship between poor mental health and not being in education, training or employment. This has consequences for life chances and social mobility.”
Det Supt Dan Mitchell, head of the national county lines co-ordination centre, said tackling the problem remains the “number one priority” for police forces across the country.
“As the methods of the county lines gangs evolve, so does our approach to policing,” he said. “We are committed to pursuing high-harm county lines and areas controlled by violent drug dealers so we can prevent harm, protect children and vulnerable adults, and disrupt criminal activity.”
