Osborne allocates £12m for women and girls projects

The Pause project has been awarded £500,000 to expand its current programme nationwide. The service helps women develop new skills, and offers therapeutic and behavioural support to help break the cycle of their children going into care.

The organisation was previously awarded £3m by government in 2014 under the Department for Education's Innovation Programme in order to expand their work to other areas. It currently has services in Hackney, Islington, Newham, Greenwich, Southwark, Doncaster and Hull.

Pause chief executive Sophie Humphreys said: "This is a great opportunity for us to further increase the spread and scale of Pause nationally, whilst enabling us to support a further six prospective Pause sites to become a reality." 

"This is further recognition by central government of the need to intervene in vulnerable women’s lives and reduce the number of children being removed into care. Pause achieves this by supporting these women to break destructive cycles and bring about a positive change in their lives."

The money was part of £12m announced by Chancellor George Osborne in yesterday's Budget for charities working with women and girls, from proceeds of the so-called "tampon tax".

Other beneficiaries include Girlguiding, which will receive £1m to develop, implement and evaluate a renewed Youth Programme and revitalise its national framework.

Girlguiding's chief executive Julie Bentley, said: “This support will help us further develop our programme offer to girls and young women across the UK, equipping them with skills for success, a safe space to develop, as well as providing more amazing opportunities for outdoor adventure and the opportunity to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond."