Online Harms
NSPCC and Online Harms
The internet offers amazing opportunities for children and young people to play, learn, and connect with others. However, it’s important to remember that it can also expose them to risks such as online abuse. To help keep children safe, visit the NSPCC’s online abuse section, which provides essential information for professionals, parents and carers and children and young people, including:
- What is online abuse?
- Types of online abuse
- Signs of online abuse
- What to do if a child reveals online abuse
- Effects of online abuse
- Who’s at risk?
- Support for parents, children, and young people.
These resources offer practical advice and guidance to help protect young people and respond effectively if concerns arise.
NSPCC Learning
NSPCC Learning provides accessible safeguarding and child protection training and resources for anyone working or volunteering with children. This includes an NSPCC Learning YouTube page featuring a range of podcasts and videos to support learning and awareness.
Please see below some recommended videos in respect to online harms and children:
What are the risks that children and young people face online? NSPCC
Online safety – a young person’s perspective | NSPCC Learning Podcast
Preventing Online Harm and Abuse
Children and young people spend much of their lives online, which brings both opportunities and risks. The NSPCC provides guidance for professionals on how to create safer digital environments, encourage open conversations, and embed online safety into everyday practice. Explore practical steps and training to help protect children from online abuse and harmful content.
Online Harms Protecting Children and Young People
Children and young people regularly encounter harmful online content—from illegal material like child sexual abuse images to non-illegal—but still damaging, content such as eating disorder encouragement or AI-generated indecent imagery. Algorithms, accidental exposure, and exchanges with others can all lead to these risks, which may negatively impact their emotional wellbeing, beliefs, and behaviour. The NSPCC outlines what constitutes online harm, how children are exposed, and offers guidance on how professionals and caregivers can effectively prevent, recognise, and respond to online harms.
You can read more on the NSPCC website here: Online harms: protecting children and young people | NSPCC Learning
Children’s Commissioner
The Children’s Commissioner has launched a guide to help parents and carers manage children’s digital lives. It shares insights from young people about what they want adults to understand, along with practical advice on supporting safe and positive online experiences.
Online abuse
The Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 guidance recognises online abuse as a significant and growing form of harm outside the home (HOTH).
National information, advice and guidance
CEOP
The National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education team aim to help protect children and young people from online child sexual abuse. This website contains resources for children of all ages around internet safety and preventing online grooming. There are lesson plans, activities for children and advice articles for parents, carers and professionals.
CEOP Education
Send me a pic? has been developed in response to learning from research into young people’s relationships online, and through extensive collaboration with young people across the UK.
The Children’s Society
The Children’s Society offers a robust and compassionate approach to online safety, aiming to protect children and young people from online exploitation, grooming, bullying, and abuse. Promoting online safety for children | The Children’s Society
Internet Watch Foundation
The IWF ‘Self-generated’ child sexual abuse prevention campaign highlights that Young people are increasingly being groomed by online predators to create sexually explicit images and videos. The website includes an overview of the campaign and its aims. TALK and Gurls Out Loud ‘self-generated’ child sexual abuse prevention campaign
The Lucy Faithful Foundation
Inform Young People is an educational programme for young people in trouble with the police, their school or college for inappropriate use of technology and the internet including behaviour such as sexting, possession and/or distribution of indecent images of children and/or engaging in risk taking behaviours online, such as accessing adult pornography.
Online harms research – The University of East Anglia
This research sets out how to help children ages 8-12 years old to recognise, respond to and recover from online harm. This new study argues that activating digital resilience needs to be viewed as a collective endeavour, involving the child, parents/carers, youth workers, teachers and schools at a community level, along with governments, policymakers and internet corporations at a societal level. Online harms research – The University of East Anglia.
Barnados
Keeping children safe online
We all want the best for our children, and that includes keeping them safe online. Barnardo’s offers practical tips and advice to help parents and carers protect children in the digital world.
Keeping children safe online | Barnardo’s
How to talk to children about keeping safe online
Starting conversations about online safety can feel challenging. Barnardo’s provides expert guidance on how to talk to children about staying safe online in a positive and supportive way.
How to talk to children about keeping safe online | Barnardo’s
Keeping children safe online – Parent’s questions answered
Unsure about parental controls or what’s age-appropriate online? Barnardo’s answers common questions and explains the types of online harms to watch out for
Keeping children safe online – Parent’s questions answered | Barnardo’s
Follow these 5 tips to keep your child safe online
Young people navigate online spaces with ease, but risks remain. Barnardo’s shares five practical tips to help parents keep children safe online.
Follow these 5 tips to keep your child safe online | Barnardo’s
Keeping your child safe on their smartphone
Smartphones open up a world of possibilities and risks. Barnardo’s offers expert advice on how to help children use their devices safely and responsibly.
The Children’s Society – Promoting Online Safety for Children
The Children’s Society provides guidance on helping children and young people stay safe online and avoid exploitation.
Learn about the risks, warning signs, and practical steps you can take to protect them in digital spaces:
Online Safety and Preventing Child Sexual Exploitation – The children’s Society
Children’s Online Safety – Save the Children
The digital world offers amazing opportunities, but it also comes with risks. Save the Children provides practical advice for parents on how to keep children safe online, including tips on privacy, managing screen time, and spotting potential dangers.
Gaming and Gambling Harms in Children and Young People
How Gaming Impacts Young People
Today’s young people are growing up in an increasingly digital world, where gaming plays a central role in how they learn, socialise, and have fun. Understanding this landscape helps us as parents, professionals, and community leaders to support young people in building healthy relationships with gaming.
Ygam
Ygam are a UK charity dedicated to preventing gaming and gambling harms among young people. Their mission is to prevent children and young people from experiencing gaming and gambling harms through awareness raising, education, and research.
Ygam are a national charity with a social purpose to inform, educate, safeguard and build digital resilience amongst young and vulnerable people; helping them to make informed decisions and understand the consequences around gambling and gaming.
This is achieved through evidence-led, evaluated and assured education programmes and resources for anyone that works with or cares for young and vulnerable people, including teachers, youth workers, community volunteers and healthcare professionals.
The Education programme is City & Guilds assured and our resources are the winners of the Children and Young People Now PSHE Award 2020. In 2022, YGAM won two national awards for the important work it does to safeguard young people. These were the “Wellbeing Award” from the National Children and Young People Awards and “The Outstanding Contribution to Pastoral Care Award” from National Awards for Pastoral Care in Education.
The training will:
· Increase awareness of advertising and sponsorship along with an understanding of in game purchases (microtransactions), social media and the blurred lines between the online / offline world.
· Equip you with the knowledge and confidence to spot the signs of harm, start informed safeguarding conversations and signpost to support when needed.
· Enable free access to award winning complimentary, downloadable, and cross-curricular resources. These include lesson plans, schemes of work, PowerPoints, tutorials (all aligned to the PSHE curriculum from KS2-5), and over 100 youth work activities as well as awareness sessions on topics such as age-appropriate content.
Learning outcomes:
- The learner will understand why CYP might game/gamble
The learner will understand what is meant by gaming/gambling related harm
The learner will recognise the signs of gaming/gambling related harm
The learner will know where to find further support
The learner will have increased confidence when talking to CYP about gaming and gambling
The Ygam website can be found here and provides a range of resources for children, young people, parents and carers and teachers.
Ygam also offer a variety of workshops which are free to attend and can be found here.
Children, Nudification Tools and Sexually Explicit Deepfakes – Children’s Commissioner
This resource explores the growing risks posed by AI-generated sexual content, including nudification tools and deepfakes, and their impact on children. It provides guidance for parents and professionals on understanding these threats and supporting young people to stay safe online.