Grant funding opens for groups supporting domestic abuse work

MORE THAN £800,000 has been made available to groups supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Last week, the Ministry of Justice announced that £814,000 has been allocated to the Thames Valley area.

The money is available to charities, charitable incorporated organisations, companies limited by guarantee, community interest and social enterprise organisations who have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and who support victims of this type of abuse.

Anthony Stansfeld, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for the Thames Valley, said: “We’re delighted to be able to help charitable organisations with further funding in response to this pandemic. We know that the lockdown will mean that there could be increases in cases of domestic abuse and sexual violence which, of course, is extremely concerning.

“We hope that being able to offermore than £800,000 will give support to victims of these heinous crimes through these organisations.”

The funding is to cover additional costs that have incurred orwill incurwhilst adapting their services during the pandemic.

It relates to costs fromTuesday, March 24 until Saturday, October 31. And the deadline to apply is Wednesday, June 3 at noon.

For example, funding may be used to:

address short term income disruption

meet essential costs of sustaining current activities

purchasing of equipment to support the move to remote and digital working

additional staff to cover those unable to work for reasons related to the pandemic

address increased demand.

The PCC is now inviting applications for funding. Formore information, including criteria and frequently asked questions, visit: www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/getinvolved/covid-19-fund-fordomestic-abuse-and-sexualviolence-services/