In 2016, the UK government committed to roll-out Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) nationally across England and Wales. To date, a staggered roll-out has been adopted with built-in assessments and subsequent amendments to the model, including the introduction of the ICTG Regional Practice Coordinator (RPC) role. In May 2021, additional changes were introduced to the model including the introduction of a Post-18 Worker role to provide continuing ICTG support to children following their 18th birthday.

In August 2021, the Home Office commissioned Ipsos UK to conduct an evaluation of these 2 changes across the pilot ICTG sites. Ipsos UK led on qualitative findings based on 29 interviews and 2 focus groups with Barnardo’s ICTG staff and stakeholders from statutory and other services working with trafficked children and young people. Monitoring data from Barnardo’s was gathered and analysed by Home Office Analysis and Insight researchers to produce quantitative findings. The evaluation aimed to understand how the 2 new roles have been implemented across the pilot sites and to what extent stakeholders felt that the intended outcomes had been achieved.