Buckinghamshire charities still unclear over VAWG funding past March 2025
Current government funding is due to end in the next 4 months, with no guarantee it will be renewed
Charities providing support to victims of violence against women and girls (VAWG) are still awaiting confirmation over future funding, raising fears of service closures and increased waiting times for survivors.
Current national financial support, under previous government plans, is to end in March 2025.
The Ministry of Justice is now set to dedicate funds to Police and Crime Commissioners across the country, to be redistributed to local charities and organisations.
However no certainty has been brought to those who rely on this funding.
Beki Osborne, CEO of the Sexual Assault and Abuse Support Service Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes (SAASSBMK), said: "If we were to receive no further onward funding, that would result in service closures and a reduction in our resources, which would have huge impacts on survivors of Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.
"We really welcome any discussion of violence against women and girls at a government level, but at the moment, we haven’t had any follow-up in terms of what their plans to halve violence against women and girls really look like, and there hasn’t been any information about any uplift around the funding that we need to be able to support people."
It is feared waiting times for survivors seeking support could also increase further.
Ms Osborne said: "One of the most heart-breaking parts of our job is to let people know they’re looking at at least a year’s wait to get the support they need.
"The consistent feedback from our service users is that the support they get is life-changing and, in some instances, life-saving, but they wish they didn’t have to wait so long to get it."
Staff retention is another critical issue, which could suffer without a clear funding plan.
"All of our staff are acutely aware of the funding issues that we have," Ms Osborne said, adding that "it may be that staff decide that it’s not worth the wait for them personally in terms of their job security."
Thames Valley Police's Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, whose office allocates MoJ funding to local organisations, acknowledged the challenges faced by both the charities and the police.
He said: "That's additional money that comes from the Ministry of Justice.
"If we if we don't get that funding, we can't replace that without taking money away from from frontline policing.
"So we have those challenges and it's important that we make sure we get as much money as we can from central government so that we don't add to the burden on local taxpayers through council tax."
Ms Osborne praised PCC Matthew Barber for his efforts to engage with local service providers to understand the impact of the delays, who assured her a letter had been written to the Ministry of Justice addressing these concerns.
"Unfortunately, there’s nothing that he can personally do because he’s waiting for information from the Ministry of Justice," she added.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio in Buckinghamshire, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper acknowledged the delays in confirming funding and expressed the government’s commitment to addressing VAWG.
She said: "We are now setting forward plans to make sure that we can invest in policing to make sure that we can set out funding, including for organisations who support victims of violence against women and girls.
"We've also set out new measures to tackle things like spiking and stalking, some of these really serious crimes that I think frankly haven't been taken seriously for far too long."
What does the Ministry of Justice say?
Minister for Victims and Violence Against Women and Girls, Alex Davies-Jones, said:
"This Government inherited a criminal justice system under immense pressure and a black hole in the nation’s finances.
"We must now make difficult decisions to ensure we can deliver the justice victims deserve, through our courts and across the system. By protecting our support for victims of sexual violence and domestic abuse, we are ensuring help is available to survivors of these awful crimes as they seek to rebuild their lives."
Additional information:
• PCC funding includes core funding to support victims of all crimes, and ringfenced funding to support victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
• The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) will receive £21m for the 25/26 financial year.
• MoJ victims funding includes funding of the National Witness Service, the National Homicide Service and LiveChat support for victims of all crimes. MoJ also funds the 24/7 Rape Support Line.
• This is on top of other long-term, systematic changes Government is making to better support victims and deliver on its landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls. This includes:
o Increasing the powers of the Victims Commissioner to reinforce their role as a powerful champion for victims, ensuring their rights are upheld and their voices are heard.
o Piloting the use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders to provide better protection for victims of domestic abuse and more robust punishment for vile perpetrators
o Introducing Independent Legal Advocates so every victim of rape knows their rights