Dr Rhian Croke, Children’s Legal Centre Wales
New data published on April 9th 2026, from UK Home Office custody statistics indicate that 157 children were strip searched in police custody in Wales in the year ending March 2025. This can be cautiously compared with 183 cases recorded in 2021/22, which represents the earliest broadly comparable baseline in the current dataset. The Home Office has since improved the consistency and scope of its data collection but continues to classify these figures as “official statistics in development” and advises against drawing firm conclusions about trends over time.
Throughout this period, South Wales Police has accounted for the largest share of strip searches in police custody, while Gwent Police consistently recorded the second-highest numbers. Dyfed-Powys Police and North Wales Police reported comparatively low figures across all years.
The apparent overall reduction may tentatively reflect the impact of increased scrutiny and policy attention following high-profile cases such as the Child Q case, alongside wider calls for reform and resulting police training and guidance. Even so, the continued use of strip searches on children at this scale remains deeply concerning and this only accounts for the number of children strip searched in police custody.[i]
Behind these numbers are real children experiencing humiliation and distress, and a system that has so far failed to prevent repeated violations of their rights, underscoring the urgent need for sustained advocacy and reform.
Advocacy and Growing Scrutiny Since 2022
In 2022, I published a blog that gained significant traction, highlighting inadequate monitoring and reporting on strip search and that the strip search of children constitutes a violation of children’s rights.
In 2025, alongside Insaafi CIC, who have consistently submitted Freedom of Information requests across all four Welsh police forces, we reported on joint research and advocacy undertaken since 2022 to improve monitoring and recording of strip search data. As outlined in our briefing, trying to extract robust data from the Welsh polices forces was extremely challenging, which is wholly inadequate given without appropriate data, the police cannot adequately demonstrate they are complying with their legal duties.
We also raised serious concerns that this degrading practice persists, and although strip searches are intended to uncover dangerous or illegal items, in the majority of cases nothing illegal is found and strip searches are accompanied by the inconsistent application of safeguards. The data also highlights the disproportionate strip searching of Black children.
Psychological Harm and Lasting Trauma
Most importantly, children themselves have spoken clearly over many years, about the profound distress and trauma caused by this practice. In 2006, in a review conducted by Lord Carlile, a 16 year old girl, equated her strip search to sexual abuse, “when I had my first full search it was horrible as I have been sexually abused and I didn’t feel comfortable showing my body as this brought back bad memories.”
More recently, in 2022, Olivia, an autistic 15-year-old child was arrested, and while in custody, after 20 hours, police officers handcuffed her before pinning her down, cutting her underwear and strip searching her in the presence of male officers. Olivia’s mother described her daughter as ‘distraught’ and said the experiences had a devastating impact on her mental health, leading to her becoming ‘quite reclusive’ and attempting suicide.
In the Jay review conducted in 2024, the following evidence, came from a boy first strip-searched at age 12, reflecting how the experience felt degrading and has contributed to a lasting breakdown in trust with police. ‘I was incredibly young at my first point of arrest … It almost felt a bit of a joke to them. It didn’t feel that serious. It was like, again, humiliating. It felt like they were humiliating me.’
Psychological harm is well-documented: children report humiliation, anxiety, fear, and long-term mistrust of authority.
Political Engagement and Calls for Change
In May 2025, we were encouraged that our joint briefing, calling for a ban on strip searches of children, was powerfully raised by Sioned Williams MS in the Senedd:
“A research brief… revealed that the practice of strip-searching of children is still at an unacceptably high level in Wales… even though it is traumatic and runs counter to the children’s rights that we have incorporated into our laws…”
The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in response reaffirmed her commitment to upholding the UNCRC and promoting a child-first, rights-based approach. However, it was also acknowledged that policing and criminal justice are not devolved to Wales.
Alongside influencing the Welsh Government, to exert pressure on Wales based agencies, we have continued to advocate for change at the UK level. In June 2024, we submitted a collaborative response to proposals to reform searches, involving exposure of intimate parts (EIP), by the previous UK Government administration, with partners Just for Kids Law and the Youth Justice Legal Centre. We made clear that current UK law and guidance is not fit for purpose for children and it fails to align with international human rights standards.
Delays in Reform and international and national pressure to tend the practice
Nearly two years on, there is still no published UK Home Office review of the PACE Codes regarding EIP searches or accompanying Children’s Rights Impact Assessment. Given it is a UK Labour Manifesto commitment to strengthen legal safeguards on child strip search, this delay is inexcusable.
In the meantime, thousands of children across England and Wales continue to be subjected to this degrading practice. With our partners Just for Kids Law and Youth Justice Legal Centre, we have recently written to the UK Policing Minister and the Youth Justice Minister seeking an update on legislative reform and we impatiently await their response.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called to “take legislative measures to explicitly prohibit, without exception, the use of…. strip searches of children.”. A position further reinforced by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2024.
The Children and Young People’s Policing Charter 2025 states that policing will be applied in line with the UNCRC. If this commitment were being upheld in practice, strip searching of children would be ended, in line with the clear recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The Children’s Commissioners in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have called for an end to strip searching children. In Wales, in 2025, a powerful coalition of third sector organisations, convened by the Senedd Cross-Party Group on Children and Families and Children in our Care, in their Law for Every Child Proposal, has called for further devolution to enable prohibition of the practice.
A Practice at Odds with Children’s Rights and Trauma-Informed and Anti-Racist Approaches in Wales
Children who come into contact with the police are likely to have already experienced significant trauma. Subjecting them to strip searches is wholly inappropriate. Trauma-informed and trauma-responsive approaches are central to the Wales Youth Justice Blueprint and prevention framework.
Strip searching children, even where there is suspicion of drugs or weapons, is not a child-first, safeguarding, or trauma-informed response. It is highly intrusive and psychologically damaging. It is also contrary to Welsh legislation that promotes and protects children’s rights.
Furthermore, given the disproportionate impact on Black children, the practice also conflicts with UK equality legislation and the commitments set out in the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. It’s also important to reiterate evidence consistently shows that in most cases, no illegal items are found and no further action taken.
The Case for Investment in Alternatives
It is therefore difficult to justify the continued use of a practice that is both harmful and ineffective and serves to compound children’s trauma and violate their dignity. This is particularly striking in a context where progressive alternative technologies exist.
In January 2023, the UK Government proudly announced the success of alternative technologies in the adult secure estate, in which considerable investment was made, stating: ‘Game-changing X-ray body scanners have foiled more than 28,000 attempts to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons behind bars.’ Yet while the adult estate benefits from these innovations, children in police custody continue to face intrusive strip searches.
With the right investment, there is clear potential of technological alternatives. South Wales Police for example have directed millions into facial recognition technology.[ii] As one of the police forces with the highest number of strip searches in England and Wales, this raises an important question: why is there not equivalent investment in technological approaches that could reduce or eliminate the need for strip searching children?
A Call to Action
The Children’s Legal Centre Wales is calling on the new Welsh Government to pursue the devolution of policing powers and take decisive action to end the strip searching of children in Wales.
This must include investment in alternative technologies and approaches that protect children’s dignity, reduce harm, and uphold their rights. No child should be subjected to a practice that is degrading, traumatising, and inconsistent with the values and legal commitments Wales has made.
End Notes
[i] Children are also strip searched under Stop and Search Powers, please see Children’s Commissioner for England report, South Wales Police were reported to be one of the 5 police forces in the England and Wales with the highest number of strip searches.
[ii] South Wales Police have invested approximately £3.5 million in facial recognition technology.