PCC gives funding to support victims of crime

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Thames Valley, Anthony Stansfeld, has announced the results of his first round of funding from the Victims of Crime and Restorative Justice Grant.

This first phase of grant funding was to develop the capacity and capability of voluntary sector providers to support victims of crime as well as to deliver victim-centred Restorative Justice (RJ).

The PCC also accepted bids that supported him in consulting with victims of crime and applications to develop a model of support services for victims of domestic violence which aligned to the existing domestic violence provision across the Thames Valley.

Over £600,000 of funding was awarded to a variety of organisations including support services for victims of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, human exploitation and young victims of crime as well as restorative justice services.

Anthony Stansfeld, Police and Crime Commissioner said: “I am delighted with the quality of bids and breadth of services that this first round of grant funding has attracted.

“This has been an important first step in the process of identifying where there are gaps in services to support victims of crime.

“We will continue to work closely with voluntary sector organisations to understand how services need to develop further to better meet victims needs, and where they need to be more closely integrated so that the best outcomes for victims are achieved.”

A full list of organisations funded is below:

Applicant	Project Title/Theme	Funding Awarded (£ up to)
Windsor and Maidenhead Counselling Service	Counselling	9,300
Sunrise Multicultural	Domestic Violence/FGM	11,029
Reading Voluntary Action	Marketplace development	20,000
Refugee Resource	Counselling	38,760
Thames Valley Partnership	Restorative Justice	46,953
Berkshire Woman’s Aid	Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA)	12,900
Flag DV	Domestic Violence - Legal Advice	9,400
Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks)	Volunteer Organiser	22,590
Reducing the Risk	Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA)	25,000
Victim Support	Restorative Justice	31,253
Victim Support	Consultation	3,137
Victim Support	Market engagement	982
Safe!	Support for Young victims	26,000
Safe!	Consultation	3,325
Mustard Tree	Human Exploitation Service	120,000
PACT	Domestic Violence- children	23,400
Trust House	Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA)	15,226
Rape Crisis (Oxford)	Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA)	30,450
MK Equality Council	Hate Crime	19,184
Circles South East	Sexual Abuse – Restorative Justice	41,000
Trust House	Sexual Abuse – Young people	24,110
Reducing the Risk	Domestic Violence Champions	28,000
Trust House	Sexual Violence - children	15,060
Berkshire Women’s Aid	Develop Domestic Violence Model	30,510
GRAND TOTAL		607,569

ENDS

Media enquiries: candy.stallard@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

Notes for the Editor:

1. In [November] 2013, the Government announced that Police and Crime Commissioners will become responsible for commissioning emotional and practical support services for victims of crime in their local areas from October 2014.

2. There will be a second phase of transitional funding which will include funding for Restorative Justice activity and funding for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) which will closely reflect the 2014-15 priorities of the PCC

· Victims and Restorative Justice Grants competition, details to be announced later in the autumn: indicative allocation, £793,000

3. Phase three is to introduce the new arrangements of contract tendering for commissioned services, from April 2015

· Commissioned services include the regional ‘referral mechanism’ (replacing the existing national, MoJ funded service provided by Victim Support); local ‘non-specialist’ support; victim-centred/pre-sentence Restorative Justice services; and local specialist services: total allocation for 2015-16, £2,467,000