Warwickshire charities and organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence to get emergency funding

Charities and other organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence across Warwickshire will benefit from more than £218,000 in emergency funding - the county’s portion of Ministry of Justice cash.

Police and crime commissioner Philip Seccombe confirmed the grants which will help meet the additional costs of registered charities or social enterprises during the pandemic and help meet the extra demand which is expected to occur as lockdown restrictions are eased and people are more readily able to ask for help.

Six bids for funding were judged to have met the MoJ’s criteria and have been awarded funding as follows:

£35,030 - Family Intervention Counselling Service (domestic abuse services funding)

£58,919 - Refuge (domestic abuse services funding)

£48,000 - Insight Services (Formerly DACS) (domestic abuse services funding)

£11,359 - Parenting Project (domestic abuse services funding)

£28,930 - RoSA (sexual violence services funding pot).

£35,926 - Safeline (sexual violence services funding pot).

Mr Seccombe said: “Ensuring that support services are widely available for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence from all backgrounds is critical, particularly at a time when we know lockdown will have left some victims having to share a household for an enforced period with the perpetrators.

“The message has always been that help and support is available and I know that charities and other social enterprises have been working tirelessly to meet the demands that lockdown imposed and continues to deliver.

“Covid-19 has forced them to quickly adapt to new ways of working and often this has involved an unforeseen investment in equipment to allow remote working and bring in new processes.

"This came at a time when many of their usual opportunities to fundraise have been curtailed. These additional grants will therefore provide a vital extra support at the time it is needed most.

“I’m pleased to be able to report that we received several applications for each pot, and while some could not be recommended for funding as they did not meet eligibility requirements, we have been successful in making the case to the Ministry of Justice for funding above and beyond the amount that was initially allocated for Warwickshire.

“This means we have been able to provide the amounts that each of the eligible bids had requested in full.

"This is great news and allows these organisations to focus on continued delivery of high-quality support to victims.”