A WORCESTER charity has received a prestigious award.

YSS, has been chosen to receive a Garfield Weston Charity Award.

The prize will see the charity receive funding and strategic support aimed at helping it reach even more people across the region.

Chief executive of YSS, Lorraine Preece, said: "For more than 30 years, YSS has been supporting people with multiple and often complex needs from young carers to adults in the criminal justice system to help them achieve their potential.

"We are delighted to have been chosen as a recipient of the Weston Charity Awards, which not only gives us recognition but also the opportunity to work strategically with Pilotlight.

"This will enable us to build on our existing strengths, increase effectiveness and encourage innovation to ensure that YSS is fit for purpose long into the future."

YSS is a small organisation which helps people who are vulnerable, have complex needs and face difficult life challenges, to overcome and manage their problems.

The Weston Charity Award will help YSS to develop sustainable funding streams, strengthen its leadership skills, and understand how to cope with policy changes, the increasingly complex needs of its service users, and new regulatory responsibilities.

Director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, Philippa Charles, said: "We are living through a period of unprecedented change.

"Charities must be resilient and sustainable if they are to support people through such disruptive times.

"The better prepared charities are, the better placed they are to deliver the support needed.

"This is why the Weston Charity Awards help charities become stronger, more effective and fit for the future."

Each of the 17 winning charities will receive unrestricted funding and strategic support from a team of senior business leaders through the organisation, Pilotlight.

Pilotlight’s chief executive, Gillian Murray, added: "This is an opportunity for the award winners to develop and hone the skills they need to ensure they can weather the storm and become more robust in today’s changing climate.

"They end the year-long Pilotlight programme with more resilient and adaptable organisations.”

The 17 winning charities will receive their awards in a celebration on Wednesday at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum.