Convicted sex offenders will be forced to notify police with the details of any dating app and social media accounts or face up to five years in jail, under plans announced by Shabana Mahmood.
In a move intended to help curb the explosion in targeted attacks using websites, the home secretary said “the full power of the state” would be used to bear down on online abusers.
There were 70,052 registered sex offenders living in police force areas in England and Wales at the end of March 2024 – equivalent to one offender for every 763 people aged 10 and over.
Nearly one in five victims of sexual offences committed by strangers are targeted online, according to National Crime Agency statistics. Previously, police have had no way of tracking the activities of known sex offenders online.
Keir Starmer is preparing to announce on Thursday the full strategy to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, after facing criticism over delays in publishing it.
Under new regulations, registered sex offenders would be required to inform the police if they open new social media and dating app accounts or if they move into a new job.
The police can use that information to monitor and increase surveillance of predators who may be looking for opportunities to offend again. The changes will be made as secondary legislation to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
If the police consider an offender’s online activity puts them at a heightened risk of reoffending, officers can seek a sexual harm prevention order to restrict their internet activity including banning their social media and dating profiles.
Under the new regulations, offenders will also be required to provide police with more personal information and preserve their internet history to prove to the police they are complying with restrictions.
A new team of online officers, backed by nearly £2m in funding, was announced last week, that will be deployed to use covert and intelligence techniques to tackle online activity of sexual offenders and stalkers.
Mahmood said: “For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That’s not good enough. The government will use the full power of the state to bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide.”
Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women coalition, welcomed the move and called for current violence against women and girls guidance for tech platforms to be made mandatory “with strong consequences” for those breaking the rules in the government’s new strategy.
“Online sexual abuse has long been minimised by the justice system and tech platforms, leaving victims let down and with nowhere to turn and perpetrators free to harm women without consequence,” she said.
In a further development, changes to NHS services across England will be made in an effort to better support survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
Referral services for victims will be introduced in every area of England by 2029 to connect them with specialist help through their GP.
The initiative, called Steps to Safety, will also train GP staff to better deal with domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Ministers have also announced up to £50m for survivors of child sexual abuse to receive specialist care.
The £50m investment to help child victims will be used to expand a “child house” model which hosts all care, therapeutic support and advocacy in one place, where children need to share their experiences only once and are supported by trained staff who understand trauma.
Currently there is one child house, in north London, but this will be expanded to every NHS region in England.
Measures previously announced as part of the cross-government strategy have included introducing specialist rape and sexual offences investigators to every police force and a £19m funding boost for councils to provide safe housing for domestic abuse survivors.
Survivor organisations submitted a super-complaint against police forces on Monday over “inhumane” delays to investigating sexual offences, as research showed the rising number of investigations taking more than three years.
