We’re celebrating 15 years of support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery. To celebrate this milestone, our Royal Patron, Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Gloucester, visited People’s Postcode Lottery’s headquarters in Edinburgh, where she met the team and Allan Bryant Snr, father of Allan Bryant who went missing from Fife in 2013.
Since 2009, players have generously backed our cause, allowing us to be a lifeline for thousands of children and adults in crisis. You’ve been a huge part of our journey to deliver vital services to people at risk of being missing, those currently missing, and the loved ones left behind. As of 2024, players have raised £11,925,778, but how did we get there?
Let’s look back at the last the last 15 years:
In 2009, we launched TextSafe®, a service letting us reach out (via text) to people who are reported missing to the police. The text lets missing people know that our staff are waiting to talk to them via our free, confidential Helpline. Since its launch, we have sent more than 200,000 TextSafe® messages to missing children, young people and adults.
In 2010, the backing of players allowed us to take our impact to the next level: using our voice to bring about legislative change for families of missing people. In addition to missing their loved one, families face the added stress of struggling to manage their affairs, whether it be their banking, mortgages, or utilities. Peter Lawrence, father of missing woman Claudia Lawrence, was at the forefront of this campaign, having personally experienced this issue.
2013 marked a new milestone in players’ support: you raised £2m for Missing People’s vital services! With your generosity, we worked with the Metropolitan Police to design a new missing person policy. Over 4,000 police professionals received training to improve responses to missing person cases, including support for unaccompanied children and those at risk of exploitation.
The achievements continued to roll in. To mark this milestone, here’s what you achieved:
This year marked a continued focus on safeguarding vulnerable young people, whether they were at risk of exploitation or escaping a difficult home situation. From the launch of our Runaway Helpline website to the launch of our 1-2-1 Online Chat, players’ funds were committed to providing a safe space to the UK’s most vulnerable young people. What’s more, Runaway Helpline was accessed over 100,000 times.
This year highlighted the necessity of our TextSafe® service. In 2017, we reached an incredible milestone having sent 500,000 TextSafe messages to those in crisis, since the service was launched in 2009. Whilst we’re glad to have supported so many people, this milestone brought into sharp focus the numbers of people facing crisis daily. Players’ support is much needed in times like this.
Thanks to players’ generosity, we received £1 million from the Dream Fund for the second time. With their support, we launched the Search Dog Heroes initiative, using specially trained dogs to find people with learning difficulties and dementia, who are most at risk of going missing.
Following years of campaigning by families and Missing People, the government finally enacted the Guardianship law in 2019. Peter Lawrence, father of missing woman Claudia Lawrence, worked tirelessly to make this happen, and his efforts were recognised with an OBE in 2018.
In the past year alone, Missing People has made significant strides:
Reaching More Missing People: Nearly 45,000 missing individuals received SMS messages offering confidential helpline support.
Public Appeals and Searches: The charity launched 575 public appeals and conducted numerous behind-the-scenes searches through its network of partner organisations.
Professional Training: Over 4,000 professionals received training to improve responses to missing person cases, including support for unaccompanied children and those at risk of exploitation.
Family Support: Directly helped over 8,000 people, with nearly 1,500 family members, friends, and colleagues receiving support.
Launched Prevention Campaigns: Proactively reaching out to individuals before they go missing, offering support and resources to prevent disappearances.
13 Principles for Police Response to Missing People and Their Families: Working with both families with a missing loved one and Police, we have created clear guidance in the form of 13 key principles so that families know what level of support and communication they should expect from the police when their loved one is reported missing. Police forces are encouraged to follow these Principles, ensuring a compassionate and consistent response in every missing person investigation.
Media Guidance: Following the unprecedented media coverage of Nicola Bulley’s disappearance, and in various high profile disappearances thereafter, we created best practice guidelines to help journalists working with families to report on missing persons, respectfully. These guidelines aim to provide clear and supportive direction, minimising distress for families and communities affected by missing, ensuring quality journalism.
As we mark this milestone, we invite everyone to continue supporting Missing People. Together, we can ensure that no one faces the trauma of a disappearance alone.
We have launched a regular email so that you can be aware of new missing person appeals and share them far and wide! We are also calling on all Heroes to be the eyes and ears for Missing People on the ground. Your sighting of a missing person could make a difference in a crucial time.