The Independent Child Trafficking Guardian Service (ICTG) has launched and is accepting referrals in Lancashire.
The ICTG Service has launched and is now accepting referrals in the following Additional Sites: London (except from the Borough of Croydon where the service is already available), Essex, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, Kent, Surrey, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire, North Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol, and Lancashire.
Where the ICTG Service is available, an ICTG referral should be made in addition to the NRM referral. To make an ICTG referral, a First Responder should complete an ICTG Service online referral form available here or here (Welsh).
A 24/7 assessment line number for the ICTG Service [0800 043 4303] is available for advice on referring a child into the service.
Barnardo’s are in the process of establishing contact with local authority partners to provide details of the service and upcoming awareness raising sessions.
If you would like to contact Barnardo’s regarding the service and the ICTG lead for your local area, please email CounterTrafficking@Barnardos.org.uk.
As part of this phase of the roll out, targeted testing of three recommendations from the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act will be undertaken in the following ICTG Sites:
- Remove the 18-month limit for ICTG support to ensure that the support provided is based on the individual needs of the child rather than being time limited. This change will be implemented in all ICTG Sites.
- Enable those children who need it, to continue to receive ICTG support following their 18th birthday. This change will be tested in London, West Yorkshire and Warwickshire.
- Allow children who have a figure of parental responsibility for them in the UK to access one-to-one support where there is an exceptional need. This change will be tested in Wales, the East Midlands, and West Midlands Combined Authority.
The Interim ICTG Guidance has been updated to reflect the expansion of the service. It is currently going through formal sign-off processes and will be published in due course.
The publication of the updated guidance will be announced in the NRM newsletter. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, you can sign up here.