Nearly £635,000 worth of funding will be used to support victims of domestic abuse in Wiltshire over the next three years after a successful bid by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).
The latest announcement by the Ministry of Justice, at the beginning of the month, means that funding for the services will be boosted by £211,000 a year for the next three years - and this in addition to the money the OPCC already provides and awards to services.
A detailed breakdown of how the £633,000 extra funding will be spent has yet to be finalised but it will be used to support victims of domestic abuse in Wiltshire.
The latest successful bid is in addition to the £180,000 awarded to the OPCC last month to pay for an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) and a Children & Young Persons Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA), who will join the Trowbridge-based charity Splitz Support Service. These posts are in addition to the six posts announced last year and funded by the OPCC.
Earlier last month, £3.7m funding was renewed over the next seven years for specialist support services which help victims of serious sexual assault receive appropriate urgent medical care and access to crisis support counselling and, if they choose, forensic examination to provide evidence to assist police in a criminal investigation
The Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), which has just been recommissioned by the OPCC on behalf of partners, is a result of money invested by the OPCC and Wiltshire Police (circa £2.2m), alongside the NHS (circa £1.5m).
