Leeds-based charity Mermaids was founded in 1995

A transgender charity will be handed a £500,000 Lottery grant despite accusations it encourages gender reassignment for children, it was reported last night.

The Mermaids group attracted complaints that it used pseudo-science and pressurised parents into supporting medical intervention for youngsters confused about their gender.

The proposed payment was reviewed by National Lottery bosses and subsequently approved.

Mermaids, which offers advice to transgender and non-gender conforming youngsters up to the age of 19, campaigns for them to be allowed better access to puberty-blockers and other medical options, despite a lack of scientific research over their long-term effects.

The NHS advocates a ‘watchful waiting’ approach when dealing with children who say they want to change gender.

Leeds-based charity Mermaids was founded in 1995 and also receives funds from the Department for Education.

It is led by Susie Green, a former IT consultant who took her own child to Thailand aged 16 for genital surgery that is illegal in the UK and now outlawed in Thailand, The Times reported. The charity now works with about 500 youngsters and 1,400 parents and uses the Government cash to educate schools about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.

However, the National Lottery said it did not believe Mermaids pushes families towards a particular medical course of action and agreed the funding should be granted. The National Lottery Community Fund said: ‘This review did not find any grounds to withhold funding from Mermaids UK.

‘The grant has therefore been approved by the England funding committee.’

The NHS advocates a ‘watchful waiting’ approach when dealing with children who say they want to change gender (stock image)

Its final report on the allegations stated: ‘The CEO of Mermaids has publicly raised the issue of medical treatment being available to children younger than is the adopted position of the NHS in the UK. However, Mermaids has no control over medical treatment and this position appears to have been presented in the context of young people having more options open to them.’

But the report also added that the charity should remove a link from its website to a GP practice that is under investigation for prescribing puberty-blockers to under-age children.

Mermaids previously denied making direct referrals to Helen Webberly, a private GP who was fined £13,000 for running an illegal operation that handed out cross-sex hormones to children as young as 12.

The charity said: ‘One of the main aims of the grant is for Mermaids to provide local support groups for transgender and gender variant children and their families around the UK. We are grateful to the fund for conducting the review in a detailed, thorough, fair and appropriate manner.’

Mermaids also attracted controversy when it emerged producers of last year’s ITV drama Butterfly consulted the charity over its storyline about a mother, played by Anna Friel, whose young son identifies as a girl.

Transgender Trend, a pressure group concerned about the growing numbers of children changing gender, criticised the programme as an ‘advert’.