A charity looking to tackle violence against women and girls in the North East has been awarded more than £1 million pounds by the government.

Specialist support charity, Changing Lives (CL), has been handed £1.3 million by the Home Office, under the Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Supporting Children (PVSC): What Works Funding (WWF) programme.

The charity, which has helped women from Northumbria, Durham, Darlington and York targeted for sexual abuse, exploitation and online grooming for over 15 years, will use these funds to expand its existing services.

Laura McIntyre, head of women’s and children’s services at Changing Lives, said instances of sexual abuse have increased and the organisation believes it is tied to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Read more: Darlington thief targeted vulnerable women in crime spree

She said: “Some of the women we connect with, on online spaces, have multiple unmet needs and have told us that offering 'sex for rent' or ‘free sex’ to support with other survival needs is a common experience, and is driven by poverty, hardship, and the cost-of-living crisis. 

“During Covid-19, we developed a report called Net-reach, where we observed a worrying number of young women and girls (18-25 years old) advertising sexual services online, raising concerns about child sexual exploitation and ongoing vulnerability to abuse in adulthood. 

“Thanks to the funding, this project will allow our specialist team to build up relationships with women in a growing environment, where we can offer support to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation.

"We understand that not all women are abused online but organisationally we see increasing numbers of women accessing our services after being harmed online, traumatised, and feeling suicidal.” 

The three-year funding scheme will see a service manager, data analyst and 2.5 Net-reach workers recruited to contact women and girls online, to prevent this type of abuse.

Read more: University Hospital of North Durham baby memorial garden to be moved

Meanwhile, 3.5 outreach workers will provide one-to-one support to those affected by online harm and abuse.

The charity will work alongside Social Finance, who will support data collection and analysis, to identify girls aged 16-25 who are most at risk of online harm.

Nadine Smith, director of government and enterprise at Social Finance, said: “We are delighted to be able to support Changing Lives in its expansion of the Net-reach programme.

“Our role will be to ensure we collate data in a trauma-informed way and collectively make sense of it with those across the system, especially the Home Office who are funding this vital work.

Read next:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here

"Having learning at the heart of this work will mean we can robustly test the effectiveness of Changing Lives’ Net-reach model, whilst also informing the current and future work of government and its partners to support women, inform education about online harms and ensure policy, practice and funding flows move with the times.”

Adding to this, Sarah Dines, Minister of Safeguarding, said: “Tackling all forms of violence against women and girls is a government priority, so that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online, at work and on the streets.

“We are proud to invest further in projects which identify the most effective ways to intervene early and prevent these crimes from being committed in the first place, which will protect those most vulnerable to abuse.”