Barnardo's Anti-Trafficking Job

posted: 08/10/2010

Barnardo's Gregory’s Place, a George House Trust partner organisation, are looking for a full-time Anti Trafficking Project Worker.

• Project Worker 2 - Anti Trafficking
• Job Ref: NW264
• Area(s): North West England
• Based: Gregory's Place, 69 Ardwick Green North, Manchester, M12 6FX
• Full Time: 37 hours per week hours per week
• Temporary: March 2012
• Salary: £22221 - £28636 p.a.

Barnardo’s Gregory’s Place provides a wide range of support to refugee and asylum seeking families across Greater Manchester. They want a full time Project Worker for their Anti-Trafficking Project to work until the end of March 2012.

The successful candidate will work directly with young people in Manchester who have been trafficked from abroad or who are at risk of trafficking; they will play a key role in development of the service, working closely with partnership agencies to achieve project aims.

Diplomas and experience

Barnardo’s welcome applications from people with a Diploma in Youth Work, Social Work, Teaching or equivalent, or with relevant experience of working with children & young people and families (especially those from black and ethnic minority communities). People should also have experience of multi-agency working within a voluntary or statutory setting, and experience of individual or group work with children, young people or families.

Working hours are 37 hours Monday to Friday. Normally working hours are 9.00am - 5.00pm and there will be some need to work outside these hours.

The post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure with the Criminal Records Bureau. They welcome applications from people with a black, Asian or other minority ethnic background, to address current under-representation.
 

How to apply and Job Pack 
 

Closing Date: 05/11/2010
Interview Date: 17th November 2010
 

Proud to Halt HIV Child Deportations

posted: 30/04/2010

It was New Year's Day 2008 when Martin Narey, head of the children’s charity Barnardo’s, opened the letter he had been waiting for. Inside were the names of 63 HIV-positive children and their families who had at last received a reprieve from the British Government. They no longer faced deportation back to Malawi and Rwanda, to an almost certain death.
 

In a candid interview before he steps down as chief executive of the children's charity Barnardo's, Mr Narey told The Independent that the letter was the proudest moment of his professional life.
The 54-year-old former head of the prison service had fought long and hard to keep the children in this country, lobbying Tony Blair to argue that it would be "cruel and inhumane" to return them to die when anti-retroviral treatment in the UK could give them a near normal life expectancy.
 

Behind the scenes
George House Trust and the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit work closely with Barnardo’s Gregory’s Place to support HIV positive children and their families in NW England remain in the UK. He came to Barnardo's met families and staff from both organisations. We all fed him the facts and harsh realities facing HIV positive migrant children and their families.

Martin Narey instantly grasped the inhumanity of deporting HIV positive children to an early death. He used his unrivalled access to people in power and his passionate commitment to justice and care for children to win protection from removal for 63 children with HIV.
 

Manchester visit sparked action
"On a visit to one of our services in Manchester I met Josephine, a mum whose appeal against a decision not to grant her asylum had just been rejected. Josephine and her son Michael, then 14, were about to be deported to Malawi," he said. George House Trust and the Immigration Aid Unit had given expert evidence and pleaded the family’s case at the immigration tribunal.
 

"Both Josephine and her son were HIV positive. The clinical evidence I was subsequently able to read indicated that without anti-retroviral treatment in Malawi, both would die within months, whereas Josephine's life expectancy here was considerable and Michael's was essentially that of any other 14-year-old. What most shocked, upset and moved me about Josephine was not her quiet acceptance about her own death, but her abject fear over the reality that because she had a radically lower blood count she would die first and leave Michael to die on his own a few weeks or months after her.”
 

Take it to the top
"I went straight from there to the Labour conference in Manchester where I was speaking in a Fabian Debate and I spoke very frankly about what I'd seen. That got me in front of the All Party Parliamentary Group on HIV. That got questions asked at PM's Questions. That got me a meeting with Tony Blair and eventually – and to his enormous credit – a list of more than 60 children, all HIV positive, and their families were given indefinite leave to remain.
 

"The reprieve list, which was sent to me on New Year's Eve and I opened on New Year's Day 2008, was, and I suspect always will be, the best moment of my professional life."
 

Source
 

Provident Financial Charges 545% Interest

posted: 29/07/2009

People in poverty, as many living with HIV are, who take out loans from door-step lender Provident Financial are charged "extortionate" interest rates, say Barnardo's, the children's charity who work closely with George House Trust.

Provident Financial reported a rise in profits despite the credit crunch squeeze on household budgets. The company, known as "the Provvy" to many, agreed some of its customers were being charged annualised interest rates of up to 545%, but said it played a valuable role in improving people's living standards – and keeping some of them out of the clutches of loan sharks. Its business practices have certainly impressed some City analysts. Numis Securities today hailed it as "probably the most profitable bank in the world".

Provident Financial, whose consumer credit arm sells small loans door to door, said pre-tax profits rose 3.5% to £53.1m in the six months to 30 June. It has more than 2.1 million customers, 400,000 of whom hold its credit cards. Peter Crook, chief executive, said that despite the challenging environment, the company expected to deliver "continuing quality growth" during the next few months.

His firm has seen a big rise in loan applications since the high street banks began to tighten lending criteria. The home credit industry is where rejected applicants from the high street lenders – some with poor credit histories – can turn for loans.

Call for consumer investigation

Barnardo's today called on the Office of Fair Trading to investigate the practices of lenders that "prey on the poor". It was concerned about the pressure on people to take out "punitively high-interest" loans. The charity said the firm's "extortionate" interest rates "are typical of many doorstep lenders which will continue to flourish unless the government steps in".

Barnardo's chief executive, Martin Narey, said many low-income families were forced to "take what they can get" because banks did not want their custom. The charity cited examples of Provident loan calculations, claiming that, for a £500 loan over 31 weeks, the total repaid would be £775, an interest rate of 365% APR. For a £500 loan over 23 weeks, the total would be £747.50 – an interest rate of 545% APR.

Crook acknowledged Provident Financial was "not the cheapest lender in town", though this partly reflected the fact that an agent called at the customer's home every week to collect their repayments.

The credit crunch means these fringe lenders thrive, as people find it even more difficult to borrow from traditional high street lenders. Crook said customer demand was "a little bit weaker than you might think. People are unsure about whether they will still be in work in three months' time". Many of those wanting to borrow from his company already had too much debt. Its home credit division was turning down about two-thirds of applicants.
 

Money problems?

Provident Financial and similar doorstep lenders offer people in poverty a very bad deal, but one that is hard to resist when there seems to be no alternative.

An experienced former Citizens Advice Bureau money adviser reports that once people are in their clutches it is very difficult to extract yourself without help - the weekly doorstep collector works hard to be your "friend," but turns on the pressure to collect the weekly payments, and tries to "help" by offering a new loan, so you always owe them money and can rarely escape. They work on commission. Of course they are friendly and keen to help - they are making a good living off you and others.

George House Trust can provide considerable support with money problems - our welfare fund, access to other funds such as Crusaid - financial help. People living with HIV in NW England wanting advice and assistance should contact our services team for our specialist debt and money advice.

George House Trust Debt and Money advice
Help with dealing with your debts and managing your money, from a specialist adviser from Manchester Advice.

Thursdays 10.00am - 12.00 midday

Mondays 2pm - 4pm.

Please call to book an appointment - 0161 274 4499.

Source