Sunrise Team wins national award for child sexual exploitation Work

Martin Murphy, Service Manager of the Sunrise Team; Sheila Taylor MBE, CEO of National Working Group; Julie Daniels, Head of Advice & Screening at Rochdale Borough Council; Detective Sergeant Kirsty Simcox of the Sunrise Team

Rochdale’s multi-agency Sunrise Team has won a national award in recognition of its outstanding partnership work to tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE).

The Unsung Hero Award for Working Together was handed to the team by the National Working Group, a charitable organisation formed as a network of over 2,500 professionals working to tackle CSE and trafficking within the UK.

The award recognises the success of the multi-agency coordination and information-sharing within the team to prevent and protect young people from CSE, in addition to supporting victims and prosecuting those who seek to exploit children.

Made up of personnel from Greater Manchester Police, children’s social workers, health professionals and charity workers, the Sunrise Team also has links to adult social care, the youth offending team, targeted youth support, licensing and housing departments.

The team’s commitment to sharing information and collective determination to tackle the exploitation of children has led to a greater understanding of the complex nature of CSE, an increased awareness amongst the public and professionals, patterns of offending being disrupted and high rates of prosecution within the borough.

Paul Marshall, Assistant Director, Children’s Social Care at Rochdale Borough Council, said:
“Last month the government declared CSE to be a national threat and the Sunrise Team exemplifies the tremendous work being done in this borough to tackle the problem. The nature of the team’s work means a lot of it goes unseen, so it’s extremely gratifying for their success to be recognised by the National Working Group.”

The national recognition for the Sunrise Team echoes feedback from Ofsted during a thematic report into CSE that outlined information-sharing across all departments and agencies and the use of existing enforcement powers in housing, health and safety, licensing and anti-social behaviour orders as areas of best practice.

It also follows news last month that Rochdale and Wigan councils have been awarded a central government grant of almost £1million to pilot a new approach to protecting children and young people at risk of child sexual exploitation from outside the home.

Under Project Phoenix, Greater Manchester’s multi-agency approach to tackling CSE, Rochdale and Wigan will try and help more vulnerable young people stay with their families rather than being forced to move to care facilities, sometimes many miles away from their home.