Lottery funding for survivors of child trafficking in Manchester

Area:

North West England

Programme:

Reaching Communities

Release date:

14 2 2012

Young people who have been the victims of children trafficking in the Greater Manchester area will be able to call on help and support from Barnardo’s Gregory’s Place Anti-Trafficking Project. It receives £297,098 part of £1.9 million awarded from the Big Lottery Fund to seven North West projects.

Today’s funding comes from BIG’s Reaching Communities programme which provides National Lottery good cause grants from £10,000 to £500,000 to help build stronger communities and those most in need.

Barnardo’s, through Gregory’s Place, has been running a pilot to protect young people who have experienced or are at risk of trafficking. It can now continue its vital work with the new funding.

Greater Manchester is seen as a point of entry for trafficked children due to geography, the international airport and good transport links. Trafficking can include sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, sweatshop and other work plus credit card and benefit fraud, begging or other petty crimes. The child victims can experience isolation and poverty plus ongoing physical, psychological and financial issues.

Children will be referred by Children’s Services, Police, Youth Offending Services, PCT and Education Services to Gregory’s Place for support. The support team will work with children and young people to involve them in individual and group sessions tailored to their needs. Opportunities will be provided to give young people the opportunity to socialise with others who have been similarly affected to reduce their isolation created by the people who exploited them.

Emma Hawley, Children’s Services Manager at Gregory’s Place said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The money will help to build on our existing work with some of the most vulnerable and hidden young people as well as helping us to increase the awareness of professionals in how to identify and support young people who have been trafficked into the UK.”

Manchester Disabled People’s Access Group today receives £199,650 for a new project to train disabled volunteers to perform access audits in the City of Manchester area. Volunteers will be trained in surveying disability access needs to the National Register of Access Consultants standard. The project aims to increase the accessibility of transport, housing, retail, hospitality, leisure services and the managed environment to improve the life chances and social inclusion of disabled people.

Audits undertaken by the group will be free to organisations of direct relevance to disabled people, a charge will be in place for commercial and public organisations and a scaled subsidy will be considered and offered to voluntary and community establishments.

Helen Bullough, Big Lottery Fund Head of Region said: “Today’s funding to Barnardo’s could make all the difference to improving the lives of children and young people who have been pulled into the world of human trafficking. It is just one example of how Lottery good cause funding is being used to make big differences for communities most in need.”

Further Information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow BIG on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BigLotteryFund #BIGlf
Find BIG on facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFund

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £27 billion has now been raised and more than 370,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

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