HILLINGDON is nominated for an award for its innovative approach to protecting children and young people from exploitation.

The council’s AXIS project is shortlisted for The Biggest Impact Award at the National Children and Young People’s Awards. The award commends an outstanding team that promotes positive change for vulnerable families.

From October 2017 to January 2021, 314 Hillingdon children were supported by the AXIS project, which uses advanced technology to gather information from the community to identify hard-to-reach children.

Emily Fletcher, AXIS Youth Prevention Officer, said: “We support children and young people at the earliest stage, with the aim to prevent escalation into social care or the youth justice service.

“During lockdown, we witnessed a slight increase in online grooming due to more children being targeted at home on the internet and social media.

“In one case, a young person realised she had disclosed her age, school, where she lived and all of her friends, and was connected to more than 100 people she didn’t know.

“After cleansing her profile and pictures on social media, she stopped getting messages for pictures and requests to meet up from unknown people.”

If you suspect a young person is at risk of exploitation, call the police on 101 or Hillingdon’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub on 01895 556644.