The Partnership Against Child Trafficking (PACT) Project was an innovative project aimed at improving local responses to child trafficking and all forms of modern slavery and exploitation. ECPAT UK was selected by the Government to deliver the project in partnership with Cordis Bright and Missing People. The project was funded by the Home Office’s Child Trafficking Protection Fund.

The PACT project aimed to improve localised responses to child trafficking by supporting UK local authorities to enhance their identification, safeguarding and response to child trafficking and build local capacity for multi-agency working.

Through the project, ECPAT UK and its expert partners provided a specialist consultancy service to local authorities and produced tools to equip local authorities to respond effectively to children at risk of trafficking, children who have been trafficked and those who are at risk of going missing. The project tools and consultancy service enhanced the knowledge, skills and confidence of professionals involved in providing services and care for child victims of trafficking and exploitation.

The PACT project ran as a pilot until the end of March 2019, working collaboratively with four local authorities across the UK and consulting with children affected by trafficking and exploitation.

The Home Office's evaluation of its Child Trafficking Protection Fund, conducted by the University of Bedfordshire, found that the project provided an “important pathway” to change the ways in which social care can reduce children’s vulnerability to trafficking and re-trafficking and contribute to improving local authority practice.