I Question The Age Of Consent

i live in the UK its 16 here most of my school friends had already had heavy petting or sex by 14 very few had not had sex by 15 so are we criminalising them by keeping it at 16 i feel 15 is more suitable given the times we live in , this would be on the condition that at 15 you would not be prosecuted or have a criminal record if you were having sex with a similar aged person however if a 15 year old was having sex with someone much older the law should still apply to the elder