| Reference | FOI2026/2090 |
|---|---|
| Description | Specialist Support for Children Affected by Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, 2023–2026 |
| Date Requested | 12/10/2026 |
| Date Replied | 21/10/2026 |
| Category | Specialised Commissioning |
I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information relating to specialist therapeutic, counselling and psychological support commissioned by NHS Greater Manchester for children and young people under 18 affected by sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation.
Please provide the following information for the financial years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26, using existing commissioning records and routinely held provider information.
Please identify any services specifically commissioned or jointly commissioned by NHS Greater Manchester to provide therapeutic, counselling or psychological support to children affected by sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation.
Where recorded, please provide the service name, provider and geographical area covered.
For the services identified above, please provide any existing annual figures for referrals involving children under 18, where these are already held by the ICB.
Please use existing reporting categories. Where referrals relating specifically to sexual abuse or exploitation cannot be separately identified, existing activity totals for the relevant specialist services would be helpful, provided these are clearly labelled.
Where already held in routine provider performance reports, please provide existing waiting-time figures relating to access to these specialist services, including any recorded waiting-list totals.
Where readily available, please provide existing annual contract values or recorded commissioning expenditure for the services identified in Question 1.
I am seeking existing aggregate statistics and commissioning information only.
I am not requesting information about general children’s mental health services unless they are specifically commissioned to provide support relating to sexual abuse or exploitation.
I do not require individual patient records, manual case-file reviews, new statistical calculations or the collection of additional information from providers.
Where existing information is available by provider or locality, particularly Manchester and Salford, I would welcome that breakdown. However, figures for the wider Greater Manchester area are entirely acceptable.
Where information is already published, please provide the relevant links.
If any part of this request is not held or cannot be provided within the statutory cost limit, please provide the remaining information available.
Where particular activity information is held by a commissioned provider rather than the ICB, please identify that provider where known.
NHS Greater Manchester does not specifically commission, or jointly commission any providers to solely provide therapeutic, counselling or psychological support to children and young people under the age of 18 affected by sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation.
Children and young people affected by sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation may receive support through commissioned Core Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services where they present with moderate to severe mental health needs. However, these services are commissioned as general specialist children and young people’s mental health services and not specifically as sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation services.
Some commissioned voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise provision may also support children and young people affected by sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation. However, again this provision is not specifically commissioned solely for these cohorts.
As a result, NHS Greater Manchester does not routinely receive or hold referral, activity or waiting time data that separately identifies sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation as the primary reason for referral. Consequently, no separate contract value or commissioning expenditure has been identified for the requested cohorts
NHSE Regional Team along with Greater Manchester Combined Authorities (GMCA) jointly commission St Mary’s Sexual Assault and Referral Centre (SARC) which offers a dedicated child and young person (CYP) team including forensic examination, ISVAs and CYP counsellors for this specific support. Further referral or treatment activity may be obtained from the current commissioners.
