The UK government has signed a pilot agreement to provide a safeguarding platform to 200 children and young people identified as being at risk of digital grooming or child sexual exploitation. 

Launching summer 2026 across the north of England, the pilot will provide vulnerable children with mobile technology specifically designed to reduce opportunities for exploitation, disrupt harmful contact and give care professionals greater visibility of safeguarding risks, while maximising privacy. 

Marking what is the first government-backed initiative to use software and mobile network infrastructure as a frontline safeguarding intervention, the pilot with Voop forms part of the Government's wider commitment to combat contact abuse, reduce exploitation risk and improve child protection outcomes within the Hydrant Programme, the national policing programme leading efforts against organised child sexual exploitation networks. 

While significant investment has been made nationally in identifying and responding to child sexual exploitation, offenders increasingly use smartphones, messaging services and digital platforms as their primary route to contact vulnerable children. 

Voop provides a digital safeguarding platform designed to help care providers manage smartphone-related safeguarding risk, improve visibility during missing incidents, and support earlier intervention where exploitation concerns emerge. 

Unlike approaches that rely on apps installed on devices or retrospective monitoring, Voop operates at network and device level, enabling safeguarding protections to function across the digital environment, while supporting coordinated intervention between carers, social workers and safeguarding professionals. 

Initial operational data collected by Voop participating care providers suggests real-time safeguarding workflows may help reduce missing recovery times significantly. In live developments, Voop reports a 50% lower missing rate and average recovery times of under two hours, against a 26-hour sector average. 

The company also says harmful contacts, burner phones and VPN bypass attempts are being blocked through managed safeguarding controls, helping providers identify exploitative contact and risk patterns earlier. Voop’s impact data points to 75% of young people using the technology feeling safer,  with one child experiencing 120 contact attempts blocked in the first weekend of Voop being live. 

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Satvir Kaur said:

"All children deserve to be safe online. We have a duty to do everything we can to protect those most vulnerable from grooming, exploitation and abuse.

"This shows the important role UK-based technology firms can play in putting stronger safeguards directly onto children's devices, helping trusted adults spot warning signs sooner, disrupt harmful contact and intervene earlier. 

"We are introducing world-leading measures to prevent children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images on their devices. We will make sure this generation grows up safer online than the last."

James Paul, co-founder of Voop, said: 

"Child exploitation has evolved faster than many of the systems designed to prevent it. Criminal networks know that a smartphone can be a direct route into a child's life, often beyond the visibility of the adults responsible for keeping them safe." 

"What makes this pilot significant is that it recognises the mobile network itself can play a role in prevention. Safeguarding should not begin after harm has occurred. It should start at the point before contact is first attempted." 

"This is not about restricting young people from participating in the digital world. Smartphones are essential for education, relationships and independence. The challenge is creating an environment where vulnerable children can benefit from digital technology without being exposed to preventable harm." 

Voop’s early outcomes also suggest the model can support wellbeing, with 88% stating a feeling of improved independence, 72% citing less carer conflict and 63% experiencing improved mood and behaviour. 

Data from the pilot programme is expected by the end of 2026 and will inform decisions around an expanded wider rollout. 

The pilot comes amid increasing concern about the role of digital platforms in facilitating child sexual exploitation, with safeguarding professionals reporting that online contact is frequently the starting point for exploitation, coercion and grooming. These concerns have been highlighted in Voop’s recent Swipe. Scroll. Harm. report.