A PROJECT that helps elderly people in Bradford protect themselves against doorstep crime and scams has been awarded £500,000 to continue its work for the next three years.

The SAFER (Scams and Fraud Education for Residents) project, run by West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS), has worked with more than 5,000 older people in Bradford and Leeds since November 2012.

The funding boost, courtesy of the Big Lottery Fund, will allow the project to expand into Kirklees, Calderdale, and Wakefield, working with an extra 15,000 people.

The community protection scheme initially sprung from a pilot in the Royds ward of Bradford councillor Val Slater, who is also chairman of the WYTS committee.

“Generally, older people are more trusting and can be quite vulnerable to scams,” she said.

“The SAFER Project has worked for the last two years to keep older people safe in Bradford, and I am extremely pleased that this valuable work can now expand across West Yorkshire.”

The project offers community workshops designed to reduce the number of older residents falling victim to fraud, scams and doorstep crime, and provides training to partner agencies who work with elderly or vulnerable people.

The project is complemented by a specialist debt advice service, which has raised around £820,000 through maximising the benefits people are entitled to, and successfully written off a total of £535,000 of debt.

The head of WYTS David Lodge said: “Thanks to the Big Lottery Fund we will be able to continue our work and offer our services across the whole of West Yorkshire.”