Protect and Support Fund
A key priority of the 2024-29 Police and Crime Plan is to ensure the right support for victims and vulnerable people.
As a result, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) launched the Protect and Support Fund in 2025.
The PCC made one-off grant payments to charities to work towards one (or more) of the following:
- Enhance existing support and protection for vulnerable victims
- Reach and support under-represented groups
Protect and Support Grants Awarded
Successful applicants shared in £197,167-worth of funding during 2025. They were:
- Eva Women’s Aid – £7,500 – To support delivery of a range of specialist groupwork programmes for women who are victims/survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence.️
- Age UK Teesside – £15,000 – To support delivery of a short-term befriending service for female victims of domestic abuse aged 50+ living in the Middlesbrough area.
- Hart Gables – £12,384 – To deliver targeted support for victims of LGBTQ+ hate, expanding existing work with underrepresented LGBTQ+ communities.
- Brake – £9,100 – To support the provision of specialist support for road traffic victims.
- Open Door North East – £14,868 – To support delivery of ‘Safe Steps: Preparing Clients for Safety and Life in the UK. This initiative features targeted safety and support workshops for asylum seekers and refugees living in Home Office accommodation.
Additional Protect and Support Awards
- Daisy Chain Project Teesside – £15,000. To support the Stronger Voices project, which will protect and support autistic and neurodivergent young people (aged 14–25.) They are disproportionately at risk of becoming vulnerable victims of crime, exploitation, and serious harm.
- Creative Minds and Purple Rose – £15,000 – To deliver 20 sessions to Black, Asian and Global Majority (BAGM) women with a focus on safety and support including how to report to access services.
- Catalyst Stockton – £15,000. To support a new dedicated Community Connector based at The Wellbeing Hub in Stockton-on-Tees. He/she will ensure victims of crime, abuse, and trauma are compassionately signposted to appropriate services.
- Arch Teesside – £15,000 – To support the introduction of a navigator role, which will provide trauma-informed support to survivors of sexual violence who are awaiting access to counselling or ISVA services.
- TransformersHPL – £9,500 – To deliver a series of community workshops and events to raise awareness and help communities to recognise certain domestic abuse incidents that go unnoticed/unreported under the guise of culture.
- Refugee Futures – £14,855 – Funding will be used to reach and support under-represented groups through working with people seeking asylum and refugees in Stockton building community knowledge and confidence in local support services.
- Deaf Empowering Network – £13,820. To support the delivery of a one-day multi-agency awareness and engagement event in Cleveland, bringing together emergency services, domestic abuse support agencies, safeguarding partners, and national Video Remote Service (VRS) providers to demonstrate how their services can support Deaf people.
- My Sisters Place – £13,740. To support the delivery of a secure, multi-lingual online chat service. It will provide victims of domestic abuse in Cleveland with fast, safe, and discreet access to support.
- Halo Project – £15,000. To support victims of “honour-based” abuse in ethnically diverse communities
The funding came from the Police Property Act Fund, which uses money from the sale of recovered stolen goods, whose owners cannot be traced.
Community Safety initiatives Fund
Additional funding of £3,900 was given to Soroptimist International Stockton Branch from the Community Safety Initiatives Fund.
The branch works closely with Cleveland Police to provide emergency supplies for victims.
Funding will pay for emergency “grab bags” given to victims of exploitation and abuse rescued from dangerous and illegal situations
Bags contain essentials for people, who find themselves without access to clothes, food and toiletries due to the way, in which they were rescued.