Children’s secretary Tim Loughton told a gathering of local authority heads of children’s services and commissioning managers this week that they should consider funding Charity Award-winning CSV project Volunteers in Child Protection.

The minister was speaking at a one-day event organised by CSV to explain and promote the Volunteers in Child Protection scheme to more local authorities.  Loughton enthused about the project and its potential for saving local authorities money, in his keynote speech.

He said: “Projects that harness local volunteer energy, such as the one pioneered by CSV, show the enormous potential for members of the community to complement the work of social workers by providing an extra set of eyes and ears to benefit children and their families.

“It is an additional resource, particularly at a time when finances are stretched, that should be considered by children’s service departments as a way of enhancing support to vulnerable families.”

From strength to strength

The Volunteers in Child Protection programme sees volunteers trained to work with families to help them improve their lives and reduce the risk of harm or neglect to their children.  It won the overall award at the Charity Awards 2010 and has gone from strength to strength ever since.  Four local authorities had commissioned the programme when CSV entered the Charity Awards – now, according to programme director Sue Gwaspari, at least 25 are keen to deploy it.

At this week’s conference, CSV presented Loughton with further evidence of the scheme’s effectiveness.  New research from Anglia Ruskin University showed that of 37 families engaged on the ViCP programme in Southend, Essex, 87 per cent had seen children move to lower levels of risk, with 11 families removed from child protection plans altogether.

And as well as the social benefits, the researchers calculated that supporting 50 families a year generated savings to Southend council of at least £143,000.

• If your charity has been doing great work and you think it deserves the kudos and recognition that winning a Charity Award brings, why not enter the 2012 Charity Awards?  The programme opens today, 1 December, and the deadline for entries is 9 March 2012.  For more details and an entry form, click here.