Transparency data

County Lines Programme data

Updated 16 December 2024

To deliver our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade and take back our streets, it is crucial that we tackle the gangs that lure children and young people into crime and run county lines through violence and exploitation.

Our estimates suggest that approximately 14,000 children were identified as at risk or involved in child criminal exploitation in 2022 to 2023, and we know this is likely to be a significant underestimate on the scale of the problem.

County Lines is the most violent model of drug supply and a harmful form of child criminal exploitation. It is strongly linked to violent offending, including knife crime and violence against women and girls.

Through the County Lines Programme, we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs whilst breaking the organised crime groups behind this trade. It also provides specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation.

In addition, the programme includes investment in law enforcement intensification, primarily focused in the 4 police force areas from which the majority of county lines originate (referred to as ‘exporter forces’) and in the British Transport Police.

These figures have been collated using self-reported management information from individual forces and the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC). Figures have been quality assured by forces, however they may be subject to improvements and change.

County Lines Programme Taskforce results

The County Lines Programme Taskforces refer to the Metropolitan Police Service, Merseyside Police, West Midlands Police and British Transport Police.

Since July 2024 delivery under the County Lines Programme up to September 2024 has resulted in:

• 410 county lines being closed
• 557 people have been arrested
• 851 individuals have been referred by police to safeguarding

The 410 county lines closed includes 372 Type 1 line closures. Through these line closures, 204 individual deal line holders have been arrested and charged.

Figures reported

Type 1 line closures

Type 1 line closures refer to the closure of a county line through the arrest and charge of a line holder. NCLCC determines when a Type 1 line was closed by using evidence that the controlling gang is no longer capable of distributing drugs using that telephone number, with check backs to ensure the telephone number remains out of use.

Type 2 line closures

Type 2 line closures refer to the closure of a county line through the deactivation of a phone line/number/SIM associated with the line.

Arrests

The number of arrests refer to arrests made through police activity that can be attributed to the County Lines Programme i.e. those that would not have happened in the absence of County Lines Programme funding.

Individuals referred for safeguarding

The number of individuals referred for safeguarding are defined as those that were referred as a result of County Lines Programme-funded activity to specialist support providers or statutory safeguarding partners i.e. those that would not have happened in the absence of County Lines funding.

Line holders charged through line closures

Line closures under the county line programme include the charge of a line holder. However, some line holders control multiple county lines, so one line closure does not necessarily equate to one line holder charged. This statistic captures the total number of line holders charged through the County Lines Programme Taskforces.

Historic County Lines Programme data

For an overview of the results of the activity of the County Lines Programme since its launch in November 2019, see the National Archives.