Missing People, a charity that provides a national helpline for children who run away, also offers an out-of-hours service to local projects, allowing them to divert their phone lines to the national helpline outside of office hours.
But Martin Houghton-Brown, chief executive of the charity, said the out-of-hours service has experienced a 60 per cent fall in the number of projects diverting to it.
"We're hearing from local projects that they've lost funding, they are closing, or they are scaling back their resources to such an extent that they are closing their helpline," he explained.
"At the local level there are fewer services that are dedicated to young runaways."
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
