Home Office awards Hackney Council over £1m to support vulnerable children
Hackney Council has been awarded over £1 million to help vulnerable young people at risk of exploitation.
The Council successfully bid for the money from the Home Office's Trusted Relationships Fund, which was set up to help social workers, police, nurses and other professionals form close, protective relationships with children and young people at risk of sexual exploitation, county lines, gang crime or relationship abuse.
In Hackney the funding will create a detached youth work and mental health team to work with the borough's most vulnerable and hard to reach young people. They will support them to access specialist mental health support, targeted youth work and positive activities to help divert them away from being drawn into crime.
The team will also support staff and local projects to create a safer environment through methods such as mental health first aid, community guardianship and bystander interventions, which help people to understand how they can respond and intervene in potentially harmful situations.
The project also aims to generate research and insight into how young people are groomed into sexual and criminal exploitation that will support with national programmes.
We're delighted that our bid to the Trusted Relationships Fund was successful. In Hackney, we're proud to lead the way in innovative approaches to protecting young people, and not only will this funding help young people in our borough, but it will contribute to the national research and evidence base to help children across the country.
Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins, said: “Too many young people have to tackle life in our nation’s capital without an adult figure they can rely on, leaving them at risk of being abused or exploited by gangs. Early intervention is vitally important if we are to tackle these injustices and give vulnerable young people the best chance in life. This is precisely what I hope these projects that give young Londoners the chance to build trust in others will achieve.”
Other London councils to receive funding from the £13m programme are Barnet, Ealing and Hounslow. Elsewhere, funding has been allocated to Rotherham Council, North Yorkshire County Council, York Council, Bradford Council, North Somerset District Council, Greater Manchester County Council, Northampton Borough Council and North East Lincolnshire Council.