Cash is a lifeline for victim support group
JON MACPHERSON
ADOMESTIC abuse support service in Rossendale has been given a £25,000 lifeline to safeguard its immediate future.
The STAR Centre, which has operated in Rossendale for 20 years, was facing an uncertain future after national charity Victim Support was awarded a £6.6m contract from Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner ( PCC) to provide services.
Earlier this month it was announced that the panLancashire consortium, Safer Together, of which STAR was a member, was unsuccessful in its bid.
Rossendale council bosses said the centre was braced for a ‘financially challenging period’ until the end of March 2017 due to the bid’s failure. They have now stepped into the breach by providing a £25,000 grant to keep the service going.
They will also provide business advice and grant bid writing support to help The STAR Centre develop a new business plan and secure funding from other providers.
The council said its actions have ‘ensured that there remains a Domestic Abuse support service in Rossendale’ until the newly awarded provider - Victim Support’s countywide Lancashire Victim Services - begins next April.
Without the intervention The STAR Centre would have closed by the end of December, the council said.
Leader Coun Alyson Barnes said: “We are happy to support The STAR Centre in this interim period - both financially and with business advice. We want to help assist STAR, making sure that a domestic abuse support service is in Rossendale whilst the changeover happens between the current and new contracts. We hope to support STAR to securing finances so that they keep going independently.”
Debra Molyneaux, manager at The STAR Centre, welcomed the council’s support.
She said: “We are grateful that the council has been able to support us so that our quality service continues. We will be working to best practice standards with the council on our business strategy moving forward and applying for funding to secure our long-term future.”
From next April, Victim Support has a three-year contract to deliver Lancashire Victim Services and Nest Lancashire - services for young crime victims, as well as specialist support for domestic abuse, sexual violence and hate crime victims.
The decision by Lancashire’s PCC Clive Grunshaw following a legal tender process has sparked fears that vital local services could be forced to close due to lack of funding. But he has defended the bid award, saying: “Services will continue to be of the highest quality and delivered locally.”