Warning Victims Support Funding At Risk
There's a warning vital funding which helps victims of sexual assault on Merseyside will could be a risk.
The Police and Crime Commisioner for Merseyside says there's been no assurances yet over a ÂŁ1.5m budget that supports vunerable victims of crime..
Police Commissioners are in the process of trying to commission the services that will start work in April
Jane Kennedy has now written to the Secretary of State for Justice, Michel Gove MP, warning him of the potential consequences of the delay and calling on him to make a decision urgently.
She wrote: “This is becoming a scandal, which could potentially have negative consequences for many victims of crime. The uncertainty surrounding this is causing considerable concern both to the service providers and to the vulnerable people who depend on them.”
Last year the Commissioner received a grant of ÂŁ1.547m from the MoJ to commission both victim services and the referral mechanism which enables victim to access support for Merseyside.
She used the funding to commission a number of dedicated, specialist services for victims of crime, including funding a new support service for victims of Child Sexual Exploitation, increasing the care for victims of sexual offences and young victims of domestic abuse.
The grant was also used to pay for Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs) and develop a new one-stop shop website for those affected by crime called Victim Care Merseyside.
All the current contracts for those specialist services are due to expire on March 31st, but Commissioners are unable to renew them or commission new services without receiving the information from the MoJ on how much funding will be made available to them.
Jane said: “Without this essential information we are unable to plan what we can commission for April onwards. We are also unable to go through a robust and transparent commissioning process when we are still on the dark about how much money we will have to fund these services.
“This is a disgraceful delay which is hampering my work to commission services for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
“The Ministry of Justice is aware that we need to start the commissioning process for 2016/17 as a matter of extreme urgency and still they keep us waiting.
“I can only hope my letter to Michael Gove has highlighted the urgency of the situation to him and acts as catalyst for an announcement in the following days."
"We cannot wait much longer if the Ministry of Justice wants these important services for victims to be in place come April 1st.
“There is also a risk that some people performing important support services may be put on notice of redundancy which is a terrible situation to be in.”
Radio City News has contacted the Ministry of Justice for comment. They have yet to response.