This information sheet provides an overview of the Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) provisions in the UK Government’s Crime and Policing Act 2026 (the Act). Whilst the Act uses Child Criminal Exploitation as the statutory term, at CYCJ we use Criminal Exploitation of Children (CEC) deliberately to ensure children are seen as children first and emphasise criminal exploitation as the form of child abuse they are being harmed by.
Scotland has a range of existing legislation, policy and guidance to respond to CEC as outlined in the Framework for Practice. These new measures should be seen as increasing the tools we can use to protect children and place responsibility firmly on adults who abuse children through this form of exploitation.