Purpose

The REIGN Collective is a community interest company that is owned and operated by sexual exploitation and abuse survivors. The purpose of their work is to make sure fewer children are failed by a system that survivors with lived experience at REIGN fell through as young people. As survivors, REIGN realised their stories and insight have the power to impact professionals and challenge misconceptions, as well as improve services and how they are delivered. They do this by educating professionals on how CSE/A unfolds in a child’s life, allowing them the chance to hear from survivors’ experiences directly, discover new ways of working with children subjected to this crime, ask any questions they would not be able to find answers to elsewhere, and understand how their roles could make a lasting impact in a young person’s recovery journey. The VRU have commissioned REIGN to deliver a series of workshops across schools in Greater Manchester (to be coordinated via the VRU Education Hive online resource) that will focus on child criminal and sexual exploitation from the victim’s perspective. Learning Outcomes By the end of the workshops, participants will:
• Have a clearer understanding of what victims and survivors experience when facing CSA/CSE
• Understand what children and young people need from professionals to help them when they have faced these crimes.
• Be challenged on views already held and leave with new ways of thinking around CSA/CSE.
• Have an insight into how grooming develops and what perpetrators are doing within this process.
• Finally, come away with new ways of working to help children you might work with.

This grant funding has been subject to the approval of a funding proposal submitted by the REIGN Collective to the VRU’s Education Lead, who has subsequently met with REIGN to discuss in detail in person. The VRU will be seeking feedback from schools to understand the impact of these sessions

Decision

The VRU wishes to award REIGN Collective CIC an additional £1,000 in grant funding for delivery of additional workshops in schools aimed at raising awareness of- and preventing young people becoming victims of- child criminal and sexual exploitation. The grant period covers delivery in April 2026 and is in addition to the original grant of £11,000 to cover 2025/26.