Victim and witness funding awards
Details of Police and Crime Commissioners and nationally commissioned service providers awarded grant funding from the Ministry of Justice’s Victim and Witness Budget to deliver victim and witness support.
National Homicide Service for England and Wales
In 2018 the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) ran a grant competition to provide support for those bereaved by homicide in England and Wales regardless of the date of the bereavement. Victim Support was the winning bidder and has been awarded grant funding of up to £6.802 million over 2019/20 to 2020/21. The new service went live from 1 April 2019.
- The new service removes the previous division in support between those bereaved pre- and post-2010, providing consistent access across England and Wales and where the bereavement has occurred abroad. This service is based solely on need and not geography or date of bereavement.
- The service delivers a wide range of emotional, practical and specialist support, including access to free legal advice, peer support and therapeutic support across England and Wales.
Support for victims of terrorism
MOJ has awarded a grant of £37,500 to the Peace Foundation for the period 1 April - 30 June 2019 for the provision of specialist support to victim of terrorism through the Foundation’s Survivors’ Assistance Network. MOJ is awarding a further grant extension of £37,500 from 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019 to enable the transition of support services for victims of terrorism to one that is embedded within local support arrangements for victims of crime commissioned by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).
Support for people bereaved by road crime
MOJ has awarded a grant of £24,501 to BRAKE for the period 1 April - 30 June 2019 as a contribution towards the costs of their national telephone support line to support people bereaved or seriously injured by road crime.
MOJ is awarding a further grant extension of £24,501 from 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019 to enable PCCs to assess any gaps in provision and to explore potential options for future arrangements to support road crime victims.
Court Based Witness Service
MOJ will provide funding of up to £11.2 million to Citizens Advice on a per annum basis in 2019/20 and 2020/21 for the delivery of the court based Witness Service. The Service ensures that witnesses can access timely, high quality emotional and practical support to help them feel more confident and informed so they can give their best evidence in criminal courts. The service provides pre-trial and on-the-day support, as well as an enhanced service for vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses tailored according to need.
Support for victims of sexual violence
Following a grant competition run by MOJ in 2018, 79 Rape Support Centres across England and Wales have been awarded grant funding for 2019-2022.
See for detail on how much funding each Rape Support Centre has been awarded.
Police and Crime Commissioners
PCCs receive circa.£68 million per year to commission and deliver local support services for victims of crime (including £4.7 million for victims of child sexual abuse). The funding is distributed to PCCs using a population-based formula that uses data from the ONS population estimates from England and Wales (aged 0+).
In addition, MOJ will provide £480k to the Mayor’s Office of Policing And Crime (MOPAC) commissioned provider, Victims Support, for the delivery of pre-trial support for witnesses resident in the 32 Greater London Boroughs and the City of London.
Lastly, rape and sexual abuse support services in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hampshire, London (MOPAC) and Nottinghamshire PCC areas are being commissioned locally from 1 April 2019 by their respective PCCs as part of the full local commissioning test.
See for information on how much each PCC area has been allocated.
Details of the funding awarded to PCCs and nationally commissioned support services before 2019/20 will be made available in due course.