Guidance

Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines

Guidance for frontline professionals on dealing with county lines, part of the government’s approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Documents

Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines

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Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines (Welsh translation)

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Details

This guidance outlines what county lines (and associated criminal exploitation) is, signs to look for in potential victims, and what to do about it. It does not provide information about the entirety of the county lines issue.

The document is a supplement to an organisation’s existing safeguarding policies, to help identify and protect those exploited through this criminal activity. It’s also aimed at:

  • local partners in policing
  • local authorities
  • the voluntary sector

This guidance is part of the cross-government approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.

Updates to this page

Published 11 July 2017
Last updated 20 October 2023 + show all updates
  1. The 'Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines' has been updated. A welsh translation of the document has also been added.

  2. HTML version added.

  3. New version of county lines guidance pdf uploaded.

  4. First published.

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