Sandra Laville
Wednesday 17 June 2015 08.08 BST
Last modified on Wednesday 17 June 2015 09.13 BST

Police are recording 85 sexual assaults on children each day after an increase of more than a third in reports of abuse and exploitation, new figures have revealed.

A total of 31,238 allegations of sexual offences against children, including rape, assault and grooming offences, were made to forces in England and Wales in 2013/14, research by the NSPCC has found. The figures show an increase of 38% – more than a third – on the previous year.

The majority of the victims were aged between 12 and 16 but more than one in four – 8,282 – were younger than 11, the charity said. Of those, 2,895 are estimated to be aged five or under, including 94 babies.

More than three-quarters of the reported abuse cases were against girls (24,457). Britain’s largest force, the Metropolitan police, recorded the highest number of sex crimes against children, with 3,523.

The data, obtained through freedom of information requests, reveals a significant year-on-year increase in the number of sex offences against children. In 2012-13, the same research showed that a total of 22,654 sexual crimes against children were recorded by 41 police forces. All 43 forces in England and Wales responded in the latest study.

The NSPCC said that until now the total had largely remained steady and the 38% rise was the biggest increase in six years of requesting the figures. Since 2008/09, the number has increased by almost 50%.

Last year the charity helped 2,400 young victims through its therapeutic recovery programme, but it says there are not enough services to support every child who has experienced abuse...