In August 2022, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) agreed to an uplift of £6m to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) ‘core’ funding for 2022/23 to commission local victim support services.
The additional £6m has been allocated across the 42 PCC areas. The MOJ used the same population formula as the current ‘core’ funding. It was based on 2020 ONS data. For Cleveland, this means an additional £57,244.20 of funding.
Working with our commissioned victim referral service (Safer Communities Limited, Victim Care and Advice Service) we propose to spend this additional allocation as below between 1 September 2022 – 31 March 2023:
- £31,78 to introduce a Fraud Victim Advocate. He/she will develop effective processes to help support victims of fraud recover financial losses. This will be in cases where they would not have been able to do so without Safer Communities VCAS support.
- £25,460 to develop a youth-focussed offer within Safer Communities VCAS. This will enable support workers to understand young victims’ experience. In addition, research will enable staff to understand what young victims want and need from a support service.
The MOJ has yet to confirm whether this funding will be available in future years.
Regardless of further funding and to support future planning, both additions to service will be evaluated to evidence impact.
Decision Notice 2022-0021: Core Victims Funding Uplift 2022/23 (application, 172kB)