The Lichfield story

Transforming Communities Together, the Diocese of Lichfield’s joint venture with Church Urban Fund, is a core member of the Wolverhampton Anti-Slavery Partnership. Its involvement has led to increased collaboration between the church, police and statutory agencies.

Key Contact: Jon Miles

Email: jon.miles@tctogether.org.uk

The Anti-Slavery Partnership works together to raise awareness of modern slavery, support victims and share intelligence. As a result, churches in Wolverhampton have been recruited to be on standby to act as reception centres for rescued victims.

Stretching from the Welsh border to the Peak District, and from north Staffordshire to the Black Country, the Diocese of Lichfield is one of the largest in the Church of England, serving more than two million people in 1,744 square miles.

It has almost 600 churches, over 420 parishes and over 200 schools. Due to the size of the Diocese, it is working with two charities to help parishes learn about modern slavery. These are Transforming Communities Together (TCT) - a joint venture between the Diocese and the Church Urban Fund - and Saltbox in the North of the Diocese.

"The Church is in a unique place to play a key role in setting people free from slavery - literally in this case - by working more closely with others. It is a privilege to be at the centre of this important project that will help local churches support victims and identify signs of exploitation in the communities they are at the heart of.”

Bishop Michael Ipgrave

Key features of Lichfield's work

The mission of the diocese

The mission and ministry of the Diocese is focused around the three key areas of Discipleship, Vocation and Evangelism – following Christ in the footsteps of the first bishop of Lichfield, St Chad, who lived in our area in the 7th century. Its work on modern slavery builds on the Diocese's established five mission themes, which includes ‘Transforming Communities’ - encountering the risen Christ leads to change and hope, and leads on to care for people and the world around us.

Working in partnership

One of its key areas of engagement is with Wolverhampton Anti-Slavery Partnership (WASP). WASP is a multi-agency partnership chaired by West Midlands Police. The overarching aim of WASP is to identify and support victims of modern slavery in a multi-agency and collaborative way and to identify and seek to bring offenders to justice. The Partnership includes practitioners from the third sector, faith groups, law enforcement and statutory partners including City of Wolverhampton Council, NCA, HMRC, DWP, Hope For Justice, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

The aims of WASP

WASP has three main aims:

* Raising grassroots awareness

* Increasing support for victims

* Sharing intelligence and concerns about modern slavery

Churches and faith groups can and do help with fulfilling all of these aims. The Diocese particularly focuses its attention on training people in churches who work with at-risk groups like the homeless and sex workers.

Sharing its learning

Under the ‘Liberate’ banner, this model of Anti-Slavery partnerships work is now being replicated across the West Midlands Police seven force areas. TCT is working in neighbouring areas and with neighbouring Dioceses to support their work and network to share learning. The WASP model was also featured in a report on anti-slavery partnerships produced by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

"When churches are close to the ground, and listening to their local communities, then with basic information we can spot signs of possible trafficking and alert the appropriate authorities.”

David Primrose
Director, Transforming Communities Together
Do L 2017 01 small title

Sign up for our newsletter

Get regular news and updates straight to your inbox

Sign up now