Executive Summary
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) provides funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to commission support services for victims of crime including the Victim Care and Advice Service (VCAS) and Restorative Cleveland (see decision notice 2025/26 – 024).
Funding is also provided to commission services supporting victims of Domestic Abuse (DA), Sexual Violence (SV), Sexual Exploitation (SE) and Stalking – collectively known as Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Services – of which this decision notice provides a funding update on.
As a result of delays in the MoJ confirming budget allocations to PCCs for 2026/27 onwards, and given the government’s commitment to multi-year funding over the 2026/27 and 2027/28 financial years, this decision notice is to seek approval to extend existing funding allocations for VAWG Services for a 6 month period (from 1 April 2026 to 30 September 2026). This will provide services with short term stability whilst the Office of the PCC undertakes a re-fresh of current needs and impact assessments, enabling provision to be put in place for a longer period of time from 1 October 2026 onwards.
It is important to acknowledge that as a result of this decision and the increasing costs of service delivery, that providers may be required to reduce their service offer (from 1 April 2026). The OPCC team will work with specialist services to understand this in greater detail and will consider the impact as part of longer term commissioning activity described above.