The Loughborough-based Baca Charity work with 16-18 year old unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) arriving in the UK from a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Eritrea.

About a quarter of the individuals they work with are suspected victims of human trafficking.

The charity provides a range of support, including accommodation, education and mentoring.

£10,000 was awarded to the organisation to deliver an accredited pre-entry ESOL course/qualification to young people (teacher salary costs).

30 young asylum seekers supported to access further learning qualifications as a result of the project.

There is no government funding available for Pre-Entry level ESOL; this project therefore provides a solution for an identified gap in provision.

This was also the first SHIRE Grants ever to be awarded for a project which support asylum seekers/refugees/new arrivals.

By engaging the young people and helping them to obtain a learning qualification, this will help to prevent future issues such as poor mental health, running away from care and antisocial behaviour. It will also improve the participants' chances of finding work in the future, this reducing the reliance on benefits.

www.bacaproject.org.uk/