On 2 May 2020 the Government announced a package of £76m extra funding to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence, vulnerable children and their families during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of £20m was to be administered by the Ministry of Justice through Police and Crime Commissioners in England and Wales.

This funding was for the additional costs local domestic abuse and sexual violence services have incurred, or will incur, whilst adapting their services during the pandemic and address increased demand.

Round 1 funding:

Local organisations applied through the PCCs Application Page and, of the funding available, Suffolk has secured over £200,000 which was distributed to thirteen organisations.  This funding was to cover the period 24 March 2020 and up to 31 October 2021.

PCC Decision 15-2020 – COVID-19 Extraordinary Funding for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Support Services in Suffolk (PDF, 225KB)

Read the full press releases here:

Press Release – 1 June 2020
Press Release – 24 June 2020

Round 2 funding:

In September 2020, the OPCC submitted a report of ‘anticipated funding needs’ from providers of domestic abuse and sexual violence support services in Suffolk to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). On the basis of this the MOJ were able to provide additional funding of £148,600 for the period 1 November 2020 to 31 March 2021.

PCC Decision 28 – 2020 – COVID-19 Extraordinary Funding for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Support Services in Suffolk – Round 2 (PDF, 186KB)

 

The table below illustrates grant distribution in Round 1 & 2:

 

OrganisationArea of delivery Funding RoundAmountDescription of funding
One Voice 4 TravellersDomestic AbuseRound 1£3,827.33Funding will support the continuing work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller women in Suffolk who are experiencing domestic abuse to understand their options and services available to them. There is some evidence of increased demand for the service and the organisation is experiencing increased costs in operating their service during Covid-19.
Round 2£3,827
PHOEBEDomestic AbuseRound 1£35,422Funding will support the specialist work that the service provides to BAME women and children in Suffolk who have experienced domestic abuse. The organisation is experiencing additional costs required for technology and has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Round 2£17,060
Leeway Domestic Violence and Abuse ServicesDomestic AbuseRound 1£39,277.22Funding is to support additional equipment and hours for the Suffolk IDVA service, staff for the multi-lingual DA service for minority communities in Suffolk and the advice and support line. The organisation is experiencing increasing demand for its services and has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Round 2£20,000
Orwell Housing Association Domestic AbuseRound 1£8,938The funding provides for additional resource and technology to support online delivery of the Freedom programme.
Round 2£8,850
Alumah CIODomestic AbuseRound 1£12,133.76The funding provides for additional resource and technology to support online delivery of the Freedom programme and Creative group along with telephone support to victims of domestic abuse.
Round 2£2,650
Lighthouse Women's AidDomestic AbuseRound 1£18,089The organisation has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Funding is to support existing posts that would usually be covered by this fundraising.
Round 2£12,702
Bury St Edmunds Women's Aid Centre LimitedDomestic AbuseRound 1£13,025The organisation is experiencing increasing demand for its services and has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Funding is for additional technology and to increase the capacity of the outreach team to address anticipated increase in demand.
Round 2£7,895
Anglia Care TrustDomestic AbuseRound 1£18,683Funding will support additional capacity for the domestic abuse money advice service in Suffolk (Freedom from financial abuse) to address anticipated increase in demand and the additional technology costs the organisation has incurred during Covid-19.
Round 2£6,300
Waveney Domestic Violence & Abuse ForumDomestic AbuseRound 1£2,459.14Funding will pay for some of the additional hours worked by the Forum Coordinator to meet increased demand for their support services, additional administration hours and other operating costs.
Round 2£7,500
Suffolk Rape CrisisSexual ViolenceRound 1£28,032The organisation has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Funding is for additional technology to facilitate the change in working practices due to Covid-19, additional counselling capacity to deal with the increase in demand for services and funding for posts where income has been lost.
Round 2£10,000
Fresh Start New BeginningsSexual ViolenceRound 1£14,436.25The organisation has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
Funding will support additional counselling hours to deal with the increase in demand for services and safe working practices.
Round 2£31,000
RestituteSexual ViolenceRound 1£5,250The organisation has lost income during Covid-19.
Funding will support provision of a number of counselling sessions and telephone support for survivors of sexual violence who also have caring responsibilities.
Round 2£13,666
CompassionDomestic AbuseRound 1£8,837.85The organisation has lost income due to the inability to fundraise during Covid-19.
The funding provides for additional resource to support online delivery of the Freedom programme and for support that addresses the increase in demand.
Round 2£4,150
Home Start Mid & West SuffolkDomestic AbuseRound 2£5,000Funding will contribute to staff and volunteer costs to ensure practical and emotional support for families where domestic abuse has been an issue in the past as well as the present. Fund raising in 2020 has been more difficult because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

In June 2021 the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) notified Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) of the Critical Support Fund, to be distributed to PCCs through a bidding process. The total fund available was £1.5m for community-based domestic abuse (DA) and sexual violence (SV) support for the financial year until March 2022.

The funding is for DA and SV organisations focused on community-based support excluding ISVA and IDVA services. Funding must be used to meet increased demand and not for development or transformational purposes. This can include, core staffing costs that cannot be met by any other current funding stream and known future funding streams, additional staff costs, service costs, and digital equipment to support better home-working and remote services.

Local providers were invited by the PCC to apply for inclusion in the Suffolk application based on assessment of data against the criteria. This included data on recent trends and forecast demand for services as well as numbers and length of waiting lists. Four of the service providers approached requested funding through this process.  The application for Critical Support funding submitted to the MOJ by the Suffolk PCC was for a total of £69,815.  The MOJ confirmed on 30 July 2021 that the fund had been significantly over-subscribed and as such the minimum funding amounts being requested had been considered as well as geographic coverage in each area to ensure funding could be spread in a fair and transparent manner. The proposed funding for Suffolk was £38,298.

See PCC Decision Paper 28-2021 for more information

In December 2021 the Ministry of Justice requested further applications for funding reflecting that a number of victim services nationally were reporting increased demand and that the pandemic was still having an impact on the services provided. The Suffolk PCC submitted a request based on input from local service providers and subsequently received a further £17,797 of grant funding through the Critical Support Fund.

See PCC Decision Paper 8 – 2022 for more information

 

The following table sets out the funding requested by the PCC in both rounds on behalf of the providers in Suffolk and the amount awarded following the MOJ assessment.

 

Name of OrganisationFunding Requested (£)Proposed Award (£)Funding Aim (with reduced funding)
Bury St Edmunds Women's Aid Centre£3,187£2,390To offer three additional Freedom Programmes for victims of DA at least one of which will be on line in the evening to reach those working or not available during the day. Courses to be run at full capacity to reduce the waiting list that has built up.
£4,023£3,017Face to face, telephone and online outreach support to victims of DA. Funding will support additional hours for outreach work to prioritise the people who are waiting for a service and reduce waiting times for this service, based on risk.
Lighthouse Women’s Aid£7,500£5,625Face to face, telephone advice and group work for victims of DA. Funding will help cover the shortfall in staffing costs where we are seeing an increase in demand for support and advice. This will also help to develop community support to reach out to cohorts who may not ordinarily be able to access our Women’s Centre.
£7,000£7,000Community Worker working with children and crisis work victims of DA to address considerable increase in demand for services.
PHOEBE£12,000£10,797Additional online support and home visits to DA victims from the Black, Asian and migrant community through an additional outreach worker and increased technological availability for workers and victims. Emergency practical support to victims in crisis.
Suffolk Rape Crisis£18,750£0Face to face outreach providing 1 to1 emotional and practical support to women and girls aged 14+ who are victims of sexual violence. Funding request not successful
£25,500£19,125Counselling for women and girls aged 14+ who are victims of sexual violence. The reduced level of funding on offer would provide 708 counselling sessions.
£3,700£2,775Telephone service for women and girls aged 14+. The reduced level of funding will support expanded opening hours of support calls, training for volunteers, volunteer travelling costs.
Survivors in Transition£7,155£5,366Face to face focus groups with young people and resulting support service for 18 young people who are victims of sexual abuse.
Column totals:£88,815£56,095

In 2018, Suffolk successfully bid for a share of the Home Office’s £22m Early Intervention Youth Fund.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Suffolk worked with partners involved in tackling Urban Gangs and County Lines in Suffolk to apply for £56,997 to fund the Thinking Skills Programme. The programme was developed locally and delivered intensive small group and individual work with young people aged 10-18 involved in offending through violence or gangs, and known to Suffolk Youth Justice Service.

Read the full press release

Following completion of the programme a final evaluation report was published

In 2019, Suffolk successfully bid for £1,500 of grant funding through the Modern Slavery Police Transformation Fund with funding being matched by Suffolk Constabulary and Suffolk County Council.

Working with the national Modern Slavery Charity Unseen, six multi-agency workshops to raise awareness of Modern Slavery & Trafficking were delivered. By the end of the training participants are better able to identify the signs of Modern Slavery and have the confidence to deal with the situation effectively and support victims.

 

In 2021, Suffolk successfully bid for £3,000 of grant funding through the Modern Slavery Organised Immigration Crime Programme (MSOICP) ‘Small grants fund for Police and Crime Commissioners to tackle modern slavery’ with funding being matched by the Suffolk PCC and Suffolk County Council.

The application was submitted with multi-agency support, requesting funding to create short films to support Modern Slavery practitioner training, and awareness raising across Suffolk. See PCC decision paper 11-2021 for full details (PDF, 215KB)

It was hoped to the deliver the project in Spring 2021 but this has been hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.  These delays mean that the £1.5k grant from the PCC might not be fully utilised until early in the 2021/22 financial year.

In 2017, supported with £100,000 worth of funding from Stay Safe Online Fund, Suffolk’s Stay Safe Online campaign was launched. Aimed at keeping our young people safe from digital threats, grants of up to £10,000 were applied for through the Stay Safe Online Fund by charities and community groups who work with young people in the county.

Thirteen organisations have successfully secured a share of the fund, a summary of grant recipients and projects can be found below.

Read the full press release

Read the full report of the impact of grants

 

YearOrganisationProject AreaFunding PurposeAmount Awarded
2017Access Community TrustWaveneyTowards ‘You’re ruining my social life’. A piece of theatre for presentation in schools, focusing on staying safe online£9,400
Bangladeshi Support CentreIpswichTowards Online Safety Awareness sessions for children and parents from BME communities£9,750
Friends of St Mary’s CEVAP SchoolSuffolk CoastalTowards e-safety training sessions for children, parents and teachers, alongside a peer-to-peer e-safety programme called Digital Leaders£1,818
Guardian Saints Community Interest CompanyCountywideTowards Online Safety Awareness workshops for foster carers£3,309
Ipswich Community MediaIpswichStaff training to support young people with online safety£9,910
Kernos CentreBaberghTo raise awareness and educate children and young people around online safety, in partnership with local primary schools£10,291
Level Two Youth ProjectSuffolk CoastalTo educate young people, parents, grandparents and carers in e-safety in order to protect young people vulnerable to cybercrime£5,876
Porch ProjectBaberghOnline safety workshops at schools and within drop-in sessions£5,040
South West Grid for Learning Trust LtdCountywideTo promote the use of the 360 degree safe Online Safety Self Review tool amongst schools in Suffolk£10,000
Suffolk Refugee SupportIpswichTowards support for asylum seekers and refugees with keeping safe online£7,035
Volunteering MattersIpswichOnline safety sessions with children in years 5 and 6 in partnership with schools£16,446
2018Marie Collins FoundationCountywideDelivery of Think: Path to Protection – 8 November 2017 & 7 February 2018£1,701
2019Porch ProjectBaberghStay Safe Online days for 6 schools in Hadleigh and Great Cornard£6,000

 

 

In 2019, the Youth Intervention Fund was launched with an initial match-fund pledge of £50,000 from the PCC’s commissioning budget.

With the support of Suffolk Community Foundation, a further £100,000 was raised from key private and business supporters in Suffolk meaning that the fund itself has been launched with a total of £150,000 of support on offer to local charities.

Due to the level of high quality and range of applications received, the PCC provided an additional contribution of £30,000 of funding to the Youth Intervention Fund which inspired a further £70,000 of philanthropic giving.

Applications for funding were made between £2,500 and £20,000 per application to organisations delivering services to support young people. This new funding will specifically support work with young people in Suffolk to address the challenges they face in today’s society – providing opportunities for positive activities, increasing life chances and reducing crime and disorder.

Read the full press release

Eighteen organisations received a share of the fund, a summary of grant recipients and projects can be found below:

OrganisationProject AreaFunding PurposeAmount Awarded
Alumah CIOWest SuffolkTo support Recovery Interventions and counselling for young victims or witnesses of relationship abuse and awareness raising workshops£5,980
Catch 22HaverhillFriday evening sessions engaging with young people age 10-19 through sport and provides a safe environment for young people to release energy, meet friends and learn new skills £3,500
County Upper Wolves Basketball ClubWest SuffolkTo support 'more than basketball' offering outreach to young people and providing alternative activities, developed in response to a community survey and taster sessions run for the existing club£15,000
Framlingham Area Youth Action PartnershipFramlinghamTo support a youth drop in service at Pagent Field. This is an extension of the current service based at the school and will deliver weekly outreach drop in sessions where young people can get advice£4,992
Ipswich Community MediaIpswichTowards South Street Kids, a programme of delivery in order to boost confidence, self-awareness and develop team working skills, communication and technical skills which will support progression into further opportunities£17,500
Just 42Woodbridge areaTo support a boat building project where 8 young people not in, or ready to engage in, education, employment or training to learn new skills, increase confidence and self-esteem, and work as a team on a regular weekly activity£5,520
Level Two Youth ProjectFelixstoweTo support Level Two's Safe Supportive Space delivering open access sessions, providing a safe place for young people to meet and socialise with peers£17,790
Porch ProjectHadleigh, Great Cornard and the surrounding areasTo support a new youth worker to extend the Porch Project's outreach work and additionally to educate and inform other local communities about how to set up similar projects£20,000
Suffolk Refugee SupportIpswichTo support the FAR project which will enable young people that SRS support to have a greater influence over activities provided, channel feedback to statutory services and work to improve their experiences of seeking asylum in the UK£10,000
Suffolk Young People's Health ProjectIpswich & Bury St EdmundsFunding to sustain safe space drop in centres for young people and create capacity to expand their work in Bury St Edmunds, increase outreach work and provide additional group work, ensuring safer communities and providing a ‘home from home'£14,150
Whitton Youth PartnershipNorth West IpswichTo establish a weekly Senior Youth Club for young people providing a safe environment and activities. Guidance and signposting will enable young people to make informed choices and provide the opportunity to discuss issues such as drugs and knife crime, steer them away from involvement with the drug gangs and local anti-social behaviour£2,500
YMCA Trinity GroupLowestoftTo support two Shine Schools Workers to visit schools in Lowestoft delivering 1:1 support, group work and help with transitioning to high school£15,510
Young People Taking ActionLeistonTo support school holiday activities for the hardest to reach young people in the Leiston area. Positive activities will develop team skills and confidence with young people involved in or at risk of being involved in risk taking activities including ASB, substance misuse, county lines and gang culture£7,093
The organisations listed below are working together in partnership and the costs includes an independent evaluation delivered by Community Praxis:
Access Community TrustLowestoftTowards Vision and Voice - The Suffolk Way.
Co-production of a programme with disadvantaged young people in Lowestoft to help build resilience, boost confidence and self-esteem and inspire participants to fulfil their potential
£20,000
Green Light TrustIpswich, Bury St Edmunds, LowestoftTowards Vision and Voice - The Suffolk Way.
Delivery of courses in the GLT woodlands and other green spaces for young people who have had involvement in county lines, gangs or knife crime activities, or who are susceptible to exploitation
£19,881
Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE)IpswichTowards Vision and Voice - Rules of Engagement.
A youth led project that aims to breakdown perception, misconception and challenge narratives between the BAME young people and strengthen relationships
£20,000
The Mix StowmarketMid SuffolkTowards Vision and Voice - The Suffolk Way.
Funding will support a link worker as a single point of contact for young people, linking with police, schools, local children's homes, accommodation units and PRUs. The worker will also increase knowledge of gangs and knife crime with school staff and deliver sessions to young people
£20,000
Volunteering MattersNacton, Priory Heath, Gainsborough areas of IpswichTo deliver Future Matters - The Suffolk Way.
Delivery of trauma informed youth social action with existing groups in Ipswich and a new group in Felixstowe. Young people will develop their own projects that are of value to their local community whilst improving their skills base, communication, learning to advocate for themselves, make decisions and take responsibility
£20,000
Additional Funding Awarded in 2021
Framlingham Area Youth Action PartnershipFramlinghamTo continue to support a youth drop in service at Pagent Field. This is an extension of the current service based at the school and will deliver weekly outreach drop in sessions where young people can get advice£11,137