A new report by children’s charity Barnardo’s has praised the pioneering work done in Bradford to protect child victims of sexual exploitation.

Bradford Council has signed up to continued action to protect vulnerable children and young people through the charity’s Cut Them Free campaign. And despite funding cuts, support in Bradford has generally continued.

A new report, Cutting Them Free, surveyed Barnardo’s 21 specialist services up and down the country that work with children who have been victims of sexual exploitation. The results have revealed that awareness raising of sexual exploitation has reduced by 30 per cent due to funding cuts and that acknowledgement and recognition of the issue still remains patchy.

However, the commitment and support of the team at Barnardo’s Turnaround service in Bradford contradicts this finding locally. The project’s pioneering work in the city has continued, with the addition of the multi-agency team being located together with the police in Bradford to allow a more effective protection of children and prosecution of offenders.

Councillor Ralph Berry, the Council’s executive member for children’s services, said: “No child should be in a position where they are at risk of exploitation and we will continue to help agencies like Barnardo’s to protect and support those affected.”

Steve Oversby, Barnardo’s director Yorkshire, said: “Our work with victims of child sexual exploitation started in Bradford and the multi-agency team there has led the way since. Along with our partners, we offer a co-ordinated multi-agency response with continued development according to need.”

Barnardo’s has been tackling sexual exploitation since 1994 when it opened it’s first specialist team in Bradford.

Eighteen years on and the charity now has 21 projects supporting children and young people under the age of 18 throughout the UK.

The latest survey shows that the number of sexually exploited children Barnardo’s works with has grown by 8.4 per cent to 1,190; the majority of grooming is in private with cases of ‘street grooming’ being rare; one in ten of those exploited were boys; nearly half of the children have gone missing from home; one in six young people have been trafficked and that there is a marked increase in peer-to-peer exploitation.

More information can be found at barnardos.org.uk/cutthemfree.