The term comes from the phone "lines" used to take orders. KCSIE 2026 added a footnote defining county lines to Part one, and Annex A has a full section. Despite the name, no particular distance is needed: it can happen locally as well as across the country.
Children are recruited in all kinds of settings, including special schools, pupil referral units and children's homes, and increasingly online through social media. Exploiters use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons, and often trap children with made-up drug debts.
Signs listed in KCSIE Annex A, on top of those for CCE, include:
- going missing and being found far from home
- being involved in serious violence, as victim or perpetrator
- handling drug orders, drugs or cash
- hiding drugs inside the body ("plugging")
- being found in places they have no link to, such as a "trap house", a hotel room or a home taken over by dealers ("cuckooing")
- owing a "debt bond", or having their bank account used for dealing
Because county lines is criminal exploitation, KCSIE Annex A says a potential victim should get both a child protection referral and a modern slavery referral under the modern slavery statutory guidance. The DSL refers to children's social care, which can make the NRM referral. Missing school can be an early sign, so absence patterns matter.