£500,000 extra funding awarded to PFCC to support survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence in Essex
Survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse will benefit from extra support thanks to £500,000 Ministry of Justice funding being awarded to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.
The money, an increase to the 2021/22 Victim’s Grant, will fund 4.5 Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and 11 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors for a year, with the indication the funding will be granted again next year for a further 12 months.
The advisors will be employed by Synergy Essex, Changing Pathways, Next Chapter and Victim Support and will work across greater Essex. Some posts will focus on supporting children and young people, those with complex needs and the LGBT+ community.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “Protecting those most vulnerable from harm and breaking the cycle of domestic abuse is so important. This money will make a huge difference to the services and support that we provide in Essex.
“We work hard across the county with our partner agencies to encourage survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence to come forward. Investing in specialist support services like these will help survivors to move on and bring offenders to justice.”
The PFCC has a responsibility to commission services to support victims of crime. The Commissioner places supporting victims at the heart of everything he does. To support this, the Ministry of Justice provides a Victims’ Grant which is used to commission Domestic Abuse, Sexual Abuse, and all other crime support services.
In May 2020, the Ministry of Justice secured £28 million from the Treasury to support services as they responded to the impact of COVID-19 and the public health restrictions that had to be put in place.
In Essex, the PFCC was successful in obtaining and distributing £717,273 of available funding. The funding awarded previously expired at the end of March this year.
Since this first round, the Ministry of Justice have announced further funding of £40m for victims. Support services have continued to remain open, responding and providing vital support to the victims of Essex throughout the pandemic and to ensure support continues to be available in 2021-22Essex funding is outlined below:
2021/22 Victims Grant Details:
– Domestic Abuse £287,115
– Sexual Violence £139,778
ISVA/IDVA Funding:
– £500,820 for 2021/22
– £554,023 for 2022/23
