South Yorkshire Police boss urges organisations to seek cash to help victims of sexual and domestic violence

Three new funding opportunities have been made available by Ministry of Justice and Home Office.

Organisations providing sexual violence support services to men and boys, community based organisations providing sexual violence and domestic abuse services and those looking to establish innovative approaches to tackle domestic abuse by working with perpetrators are encouraged to apply for the new cash.

The Ministry of Justice has announced a £1.4 million funding pot to increase the capacity of sexual violence support services to meet the specific needs of male victims. The fund is open to organisations who are currently already providing gender-specific support to men and boys, including specialist male-only services, and those who support both men and women.

A Critical Support Fund is offering £1.5 million for community-based sexual violence and domestic abuse support to meet exceptional or additional need that cannot be met through existing funding. A further £1.3 million is available for the recruitment of Independent Sexual Violence Advocates and Independent Domestic Violence Advocates.

The third fund is for organisations that have innovative approaches to work with domestic abuse perpetrators to provide interventions. It is particularly seeking to fund interventions that address known issues in relation to domestic abuse offending, those that focus on children and adolescents and programmes aimed at perpetrators of stalking.

Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “We know that instances of sexual violence and domestic abuse have risen during the pandemic, and we also know that many go unreported. This extra funding is available to organisations who provide crucial support to victims and I hope that organisations in South Yorkshire are encouraged to apply, despite the tight timescale that has been set by the government.”

The closing date for bids for both funds for the Male Rape Support Services Fund and the Critical Support Fund is midday on in Friday, June 18 and the Perpetrator Programmes Fund closes at midday on Monday, June 21.

Further details on the eligibility criteria can be found in the guidance on the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s website.

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