£2.1 million funding boost to support victims of crime in Lancashire

County Councillor Andrew Snowden on a bus — Andrew Snowden

Over £2.1 million pounds worth of funding has been secured by the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office to provide specialist support for victims of crime across Lancashire.

The funding, provided by the Ministry of Justice, will be used to deliver a wide variety of projects aimed at supporting people affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence.

One project set to benefit will connect specialist domestic abuse workers with senior schools to create key links for referrals and to provide group work for young abuse victims within schools. These new posts will be covered by specially trained workers to support children and young people and will also ensure that parents can be linked into additional support services where needed.

Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner Andrew Snowden said: “The additional funding is great news for Lancashire and will make a real difference to anyone needing help and support.

“These types of crime impact victims deeply and providing the right type of support is really important to help them move forward.”

“Domestic abuse and sexual violence are unacceptable and I will work tirelessly alongside the Constabulary to crack down on offenders and to bring them to justice.”

Reece Richards, who manages Lancashire Victim Services’ Nest team which will be part of the schools project, added: “We are really pleased to be able to expand our support, particularly for young victims of domestic abuse through our Nest Lancashire Team.

“Being able to work with and in schools will enable us to work with more children and young people and to provide the help and support they may need early on.

“Domestic abuse has long lasting impacts, particularly on children and young people so we are really happy to be able to provide additional support in this area.”

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In addition to the schools project, the extra funding will go to a number of local services to provide additional services such as additional counselling hours, a specialist therapy service for young victims, specialist support for victims from ethnic minority backgrounds, stalking advocacy and outreach work.

The organisations that will benefit from the additional funding are Chorley Women’s Centre, Empowerment, Flowhesion, Fylde Coast Women’s Aid, Humraaz, Lancashire Victim Services, Lancashire Women, Pace, Paladin, Preston Domestic Violence Services, Sahara, The Wish Centre and Trust House.