This report investigated how many children are Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) in England and Wales and used police data to establish that the number who are under 18 is, arguably, low. A range of professionals who work in this area were interviewed, and there was a consensus that the design of the UK Register, together with the principles that govern sentencing in the Youth Courts, ensure that registration is not applied over-zealously to this age group.

Given these safeguards, the report found that the protection of future victims merited the registration of children in those rare cases where the threshold was reached.

However, the report identified aspects of the Register that they believed were poorly designed for this age group, including the existence of indefinite registration, the notification process, the complexity of restrictions, and the use of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders