THERE are concerns that "vital" projects to help prevent children from being groomed by criminal gangs could be left without funding in the coming weeks.

Projects such as Breaking the Cycle see youth workers working with children who are likely to fall into a life of crime.

But at a recent meeting of Bradford Council's Children's Services Scrutiny Committee, members were told that the funding for such schemes was "up in the air."

During a presentation on what is being done to help safeguard vulnerable young people in Bradford, members heard that there were numerous schemes that targeted children who are at risk of child criminal exploitation - where established criminals groom young people into a life of crime.

The Breaking the Cycle project was one such scheme. A report into the scheme that was presented to the committee said a 15 year old involved in the scheme had been identified as he regularly went missing from school and had been involved in car thefts.

It was found that he was being groomed by older, established criminals to get involved in dealing drugs for them.

After the involvement of the scheme, the boy began disassociating from the criminals, and his behaviour and attendance at school has improved.

Breaking the Cycle works with teens groomed for serious crime

The committee was told the scheme was funded by one-off funding streams, such as from the Police and Crime Commissioner's office, and had no continuing source of funding.

Chair of the Committee Councillor Geoff Winnard (Cons, Bingley) asked what the implications were if these schemes lost funding.

Heather Wilson said one of the schemes that the partnership carried out was called "Break The Cycle." The project identified young people at risk of being exploited by criminals, and funding themselves trapped in a criminal lifestyle.

She said: "It needs intensive support for young people."

The work was entirely funded by various grants - the committee was told. But Mrs Wilson added: "The grants come to an end in March, that presents us with some real concerns.

"We are trying to find creative solutions. We might look to get money from the police's violence reduction unit, but they don't know what settlement they'll get. It is all a bit up in the air.

"We know this work is so vitally important. We have had successes, but it is not a quick fix. It is long term and there are a lot of push and pull factors."

When asked if the team were looking for other funding sources to take the project beyond March she said: "We are looking for funding, we are not intending to stop this work. We are constantly looking for external funding."

She said the project could continue if it got around £240,000 funding each year, and that previous funding had come from "bits and bobs all over the place."

Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) questioned whether Bradford Council could fund the project in future, giving it a more certain future. He said: "It seems as though this work could be a bit of a hostage to fortune."

Marc Douglas, head of Children's Services at Bradford Council, said the authority was re-shaping its children's service budget, and that there could be potential funding streams. But he said the project involved other agencies, such as police.

Jane Booth, chair of the Bradford Partnership group which oversees safeguarding projects, said: "We have seen this make a difference. I would be very sorry to see Bradford in the position where it is not able to sustain this level of work, as there are likely to be more children needing this support that haven't been identified."