Decision details

To agree the funding agreement with the Gloucestershire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for a grant payment of £87,200. The grant enables the Council to commission St Giles Trust to employ and manage an Exploitation Worker based in Cheltenham and to provide 2 days a month consultancy. Both provisions are to be contracted for a 12-month period.

The Gloucestershire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner has been successful in securing Serious Violence funding 2024/25 from the Home Office. The funding has been allocated to the Council to deliver the following:

To commission St Giles Trust to provide full employment responsibility of a full time Exploitation Worker post for 12 months based in Cheltenham. The role will focus on young people impacted by Organised Crime Gang activities particularly those linked to the Moors and St Pauls and work in partnership to protect those at risk of being involved. They will hold a manageable caseload of young people who have been identified as high risk through MAPS (Multi Agency Problem Solving) Forum and MACE meetings (Both are partnership meetings which include the police, social care and housing).

The ethos of St Giles Trust is to recruit candidates with lived experience and preferably who have lived in or at have good knowledge of the local area, in particular the neighbourhoods of the Moors and St Pauls.

In addition, St Giles Trust will provide 2 days a month consultancy support. This support will be available to partners working directly with young people identified as at risk of or are already being exploited.

The consultancy addition will support the needs of the organisation and their staff. This could include training, expert advice, review and challenge of existing procedures and processes and where appropriate undertaking case reviews and provide recommendations of learning.

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Police intelligence presented to the Communities Partnership (CSP) revealed concerns about the presence of criminal gangs operating in the areas of the Moors and St Pauls and the risk that these gangs pose to young people.

These concerns have also been discussed with other partners such as CBH, Childrens Social Care and local schools. These organisations have fed back their support for the commission St Giles Trust to employ and manage an Exploitation Worker.