A leading children’s charity has unveiled ambitious plans to expand its services across the country - a move which will require it to raise £10m a year in donations by 2017.  

The Children’s Trust, based in Tadworth Court, has been treating children with an acquired brain injury for the past 30 years.

It provides residential and community-based rehabilitation and runs a school for children with profound learning difficulties and provides transitional medical care to children with complex health needs.

Yesterday, it launched a new three-year strategy which it hopes will enable it to reach 2,500 children living with brain injury across the UK every year by 2017 through a major expansion of its services.

The strategy will involve it redeveloping its base in Tadworth, building new learning spaces and therapy areas and creating more bedrooms for children, and investing more in campaigning.

It also aims to become an internationally-recognised centre for excellence for research.

"Researchers at the forefront of neurological science are discovering ever more compelling evidence for the wide-ranging impact of brain injury on society," it said.

One of the key objectives of the new strategy is to significantly increase the number of charity-funded partnerships it has with the NHS.

Brain injury specialists from the charity have been working at Sheffield Children’s Hospital since 2011 and Nottingham Children’s Hospital since 2013.

The trust now wants to have its brain injury specialists in 10 major trauma centres across the UK by 2017, providing support to around 250 children and families in each area every year.

The trust said it will launch a capital fundraising appeal to transform its specialist centre in Tadworth by 2017 and will invest money in 2014-15 to recruit at least 13,000 new regular supporters.

The charity currently raises £7m a year to keep its services running and will need to increase this to £10m by 2017 to pay for its expanded role.   

It said that raising the significant amounts of funding required will be a challenge but it is confident it can do so.

Dalton Leong, chief executive, said: "Never before has there been such an opportunity to increase the expert support available to these children and their families, who are amongst the most vulnerable people in our society.

"Over the last 30 years, our services have become beacons of specialist rehabilitation, education and care.

"Our new strategy will enhance these services and expand the vital support we provide.

"We will need more donations and support from the public to turn our ambitions into reality.

"So I’m calling on everyone who wants to make a difference to thousands more children with brain injury to get behind us."

More than 40,000 children are estimated to be left with an acquired brain injury every year in the UK.

To read The Children’s Trust strategy, Childhood Brain Injury: Our Big Ambitions, click here.

To donate click here