PFCC gives more than £700,000 to organisations helping to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence

Victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence are set to benefit from more than £700,000 of extra support in the coming weeks.

In May, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex urged charities and organisations working to support those who had experienced those awful crimes to apply via the PFCC’s office for funds that had been made available via the Ministry of Justice’s Extraordinary COVID Funding and Rape Support Fund.

The money was made available to help groups who were dealing with increased demand and reduced resources as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Many applications were received, and the team managed to secure and award £717,000 for several organisations across the county.

These include:

• Next Chapter – £82,673.00
• Safe Steps – £82, 915.00
• Changing Pathways – £82,500.00
• The Change Project – £53,000.00
• Victim Support – £7,681.00
• Alpha Vesta – £7,975.00
• Synergy Essex – £255,000.00
• Safer Places – £82,685.50
• One Voice – £20, 122.00
• Volunteering Matters – £2, 188.00
• Chelmsford Counselling – £30,733.86
• Families Need Fathers – £9,760.00

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “We were allocated £620,000 but thanks to the hard work of our team and the quality of applications received we were able to secure more money from the additional Rape Support Fund to help support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“Protecting vulnerable people from harm is one of our priorities in our Police and Crime Plan and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone across the county who is and has been working so hard to provide these services, making them available to everyone who needs them. It so important to be able to resource this vital support.”