Three Nottinghamshire charities that provide domestic violence services have won contracts worth a total of £1.2million a year.
The contracts are funded by Nottinghamshire County Council and the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, which allow funding for a range of services for domestic abuse victims.
The charities are Women’s Aid Integrated Services, Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid and Equation.
Each charity provides a range of support services for adult female and male survivors, teenagers experiencing domestic violence in their relationships and children and young people living in families where there is domestic violence.
The charities which have been providing services in Nottinghamshire since the 1980s, were up against large national organisations for the contract.
We’re absolutely delighted to have been awarded the contract which we believe is testament to the high quality of the specialist services we currently provide and the dedication and skill of our staff and volunteer team.
Val Lunn for Women’s Aid Integrated Services.
The new contract will include advocacy services for survivors, help with mental health issues, drug and alcohol use.
Figures in Nottinghamshire show that one in three women living in the county experience domestic abuse every year, which on average costs the government £79million.
Teenagers have more recently been identified as a group at risk of domestic abuse. With the new contract these charities can provide their own dedicated services to work with local secondary schools and youth provision.
Mandy Green from Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid, said: “Domestic violence is one of the most harmful social problems of our time and we’re very pleased that Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner have seen the need to protect funding for specialist services in a time of austerity.”
