More help for victims of domestic abuse
Thousands more victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, 'honour" abuse and stalking will have access to specialist support services under nearly £20 million announced by the Home Secretary.
Helplines for victims of domestic abuse will get £6m of the cash. The investment is designed to reach as many different communities as possible and will help specialist services in England and Wales supporting victims and survivors, the Home Office said.
Nine helplines across eight charities will receive funding including: Refuge who run the National Domestic Abuse helpline; HourGlass, a charity supporting older victims; Sign Health who support victims who are Deaf; Galop; The Suzy Lamplugh Trust; Karma Nirvana; and Respect will receive funds to continue running helplines for victims, recruit more staff and support more victims escaping abuse.
The funding also includes £5.3 million for services supporting children affected by domestic abuse. The money will go on one-to-one and group counselling, classroom assistance and help for their non-abusive parents.
Around £2m will go to help victims access financial help to escape abusive relationships, a wide range of specialist domestic abuse services will receive the funding through the Women Aid's Flexible Fund. This gives payments of up to £500 to help victims secure safety and one-off payments of up to £2,500 for deposits for rented accommodation. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here.
A further £2.5 million will be for projects to help prevent and also improve responses to violence and abuse against women and girls.
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls told WalesOnline: "We have to look at everywhere a victim can come forward and try to make access points the best they can be.
"There are people suffering now who need help now and I also know we have to focus on how to prevent people becoming perpetrators.
"We need to work on evidence about what will work in schools. There is ongoing concern about misogyny among (some) boys in schools.
"Part of the funding is for things like what is happening in schools and programmes we need to run for young people. This is all part of the government efforts to halve violence against women and girls in a decade."
Ms Phillips said while domestic abuse services are funded directly by the Welsh Government in Wales the phonelines being funded are for people across the UK, Wales.
"I want people in Wales to know that if they ring one of the helplines they won't have the phone put down. We work closely with the Welsh Government to keep funding in synergy."
The £19.9 million investment includes:
More than £6 million for national helplines supporting victims of domestic abuse, 'honour'-based abuse, revenge porn and stalking
£5.3 million for services supporting children affected by domestic abuse
£2.4 million for the Support for Migrant Victims Scheme to help those with no recourse to public funds
£1.96 million for the Flexible Fund providing financial support to domestic abuse victims
A further £1.7m for sexual violence specialist services, support and advocacy for families bereaved by domestic abuse, support for victims for economic abuse and employers training.
£2.5m to help prevent and improve the response to VAWG. This includes increasing the understanding and identification of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), work to prevent 'honour' based abuse and improving multi-agency working and risk management.
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