Skarbek’s sleep out helps raise more than £1 million for youth homelessness

Staff from Skarbek Associates Ltd helped to raise more than £1 million to help homeless children and young people by spending the night sleeping rough.

Two people from Skarbek bedded down in London on Byte Night, joining more than 1,300 people across the UK for the challenge of sleeping rough to raise vital funds for Action for Children.

Paul Heugh, CEO of Skarbek, said “All children and young people should have a safe place to call home – they shouldn’t be sofa hopping, they shouldn’t be in B&Bs, and they certainly shouldn’t be on the streets. We are proud to have helped raise more than £1 million to support Action for Children’s vital work, and we are already thinking about how we can help even more children and young people by making Byte Night 2015 bigger and better than ever before.”

Byte Night has raised more than £7.2 million since it launched in 1998. This year simultaneous sleep outs took place in London, Reading, Cambridge, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh, making it the biggest Byte Night ever.

Sir Tony Hawkhead, chief executive of Action for Children, slept out in Birmingham. He said: “I would like to say a huge thank you and well done to everyone who took part in Byte Night. It was cold, wet and uncomfortable, but it was only one night. In the morning we returned home to warm homes, full fridges, and cosy beds. For the 80,000 homeless children and young people living in the UK, this simply isn’t the case. Registration is already open for Byte Night 2015 so I would encourage London businesses to make an early New Year’s Resolution and sign up now to join us and Skarbek for next year’s sleep out.”

To find out more about Byte Night 2015 please visit bytenight.org.uk