Police Commissioner invites bids for projects to tackle domestic abuse and protect families
02.06.21 - Merseyside
Merseyside’s Police Commissioner is urging organisations to come forward with bids for projects that work with perpetrators of domestic abuse to tackle and prevent their behaviour, protecting families which are at risk.
Emily Spurrell is inviting charities and eligible groups to contact her with their proposals for programmes which work specifically with perpetrators of domestic abuse to change their offending behaviour, lower the risk of reoffending and reduce the number of victims.
Funding is also available for projects which work with children and young people who are violent or abusive to their parents or carers and perpetrators of stalking.
The most effective bids will be put forward by the Commissioner for funding from the Government’s Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Fund. More than £11m is currently available in the pot nationally and the Commissioner wants to work with partners to secure as much funding as possible for the region.
The funding will run for eight months from August until March 2022, and any organisation wishing to bid must be able to provide four months of “match funding” to enable their programme to run for a full year.
Last year, Merseyside received £200,000 from this fund to expand a perpetrator programme working in Liverpool and St Helens run by the Merseyside Domestic Violence Services and charity Change Grow Live. That programme is running until October 2021.
Emily Spurrell said: “Domestic abuse is not acceptable and it is not inevitable. Tackling it is one of my priorities and that means addressing the root cause of the problem by preventing it from happening in the first place.
“The right interventions at the right time can stop abuse from occurring, recurring or escalating. I want to work with our community safety partners and the charitable and third sector to secure as much of this national funding as possible for programmes which can make a difference here in Merseyside, making sure more families are protected from abusive behaviour.
“While this funding is very welcome, the government have made it particularly difficult by imposing very tight timescales for allocating this funding. My team is already in the process of contacting our existing partners to make them aware of this funding opportunity and the process for applications, but there may be other charities and social enterprises who have innovative ideas for how to use this funding.
“I would encourage any organisation who may have a project in mind to review the Government’s criteria and, if they are eligible, get in touch as soon as possible.
“Working with perpetrators to change their behaviour is essential work, but it must never come at the expense of funding life-saving support for survivors and I will continue to lobby government to commit to a long-term sustainable funding model for our frontline community-based support services.”
More information on the funding process can be found on the Gov.uk website at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/ed029fb1-9a09-443b-9c81-fae29a1e2bd9?origin=SearchResults&p=1
The deadline for submitting proposals to the Police Commissioner’s office is 5pm on Wednesday 16th June 2021.
For more information or to submit a bid please email [email protected]