As one of the UK’s leading anti-trafficking organisations, we are proud to have received £1,000,714 from the Tampon Tax Fund, administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The grant will be used to deliver the ‘Moving On Project’, an extensive outreach programme for women across England who have suffered abuse, violence and exploitation as a result of human trafficking and modern slavery and are in need of long-term support. As one of the UK’s leading providers of safe-house accommodation, this project will be a vital extension to our services for survivors in England.
The project will be available in seven locations across England and will provide advice, advocacy and support, along with activities and employability programmes, tailored to meet the needs of female survivors. Currently, there is no guaranteed long-term support for survivors of trafficking and without this, people are often left vulnerable to re-exploitation and further harm. The Moving On Project is one of the first efforts to tackle this across the UK.
Chief Executive of Medaille Trust, Garry Smith, said “We are so grateful to the Tampon Tax Fund for this phenomenal level of support. The £1 million award will enable us and our delivery partner, The Snowdrop Project, to deliver long-term support to some of the most vulnerable women in society today.
“The challenges these women face on a daily basis will not have disappeared because of COVID-19. If anything, their situations have become even more difficult, with the availability of vital support reduced and at risk of further deterioration in the months ahead.
“The Moving On Project will give women the vital support they need at this crucial time, while reducing their vulnerability to abuse, violence and exploitation in the future.”
One of the cornerstones of the project will be to give women victims a voice and empower them to seek justice for their exploitation. Trained staff will be able to conduct evidential and legally admissible interviews on behalf of police and law enforcement agencies. This ground-breaking process has never been tried with adult victims of human trafficking in the UK before.
Stephen Hay, Director of Police and Justice Partnerships at Medaille Trust said, “Often women survivors are distrusting of police and legal processes and feel disempowered to take action against their traffickers.
We hope that through this project, we can empower women to support the criminal justice system, making them feel valued and in control throughout the process. We also hope to address to lack of prosecutions that is currently being bought against perpetrators of this horrific crime.”
Medaille Trust is collaborating with ‘The Snowdrop Project’, a charity that leads the way in best practice for long-term support of survivors in the UK, to deliver the project.
Chief Executive of The Snowdrop Project said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Medaille Trust to expand long-term support for female survivors around the UK. Medaille Trust has been running top quality safe houses for many years and it is exciting to work with them to see their service expand further.
From our experience, long-term support ensures pathways to employment and education are accessed, secured tenancies and money management skills, families reunited, reduced vulnerability to re-exploitation and improved prosecutions”
