Independent merchants have partnered with a charity to raise awareness of children who have gone missing.

Missing People works to locate displaced children in the UK and turn their lives around.

Members of the IPG, a network of plumbing, heating and bathroom specialists, are supporting the charity by displaying posters of local missing children in their stores.

To do this, members just have to make a donation to the charity. They will then receive a collection tin for their branch, and a poster to download.

The charity estimates that 80,000 children go missing each year in the UK, many more than once.

Robin Beal, Managing Director and founder of the IPG, said “The IPG’s aim is to work closely with our members, local tradespeople and the charity, to make local communities aware of children who have gone missing in their area, reinforcing the great work that the Missing People charity does and their vision of bringing missing children to a place of safety or back together with their families.”

Amy Sweeting, Head of Major Gifts at Missing People, said: “The help of the IPG’s members to put the children we’re trying to find in front of the local communities who might be able to find them will be invaluable.”