PCD 1491 Funding for victims services for Cybercrime, ASB, and Hate Crime

PCD 1491 Funding for victims services for Cybercrime, ASB, and Hate Crime

MOPAC receives funding from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to pay for some of the victim and witness support services MOPAC commissions in London. This funding comes to MOPAC via two multi-year grant agreements from the MoJ (known as Core and General) covering financial years 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25. There is currently £475,349 in unallocated MoJ core grant funding that is ringfenced for 2023/24.  

As the MoJ core grant funding must all be spent in this financial year (2023/24), it is proposed that, for reporting purposes, this funding is allocated to existing victims services that are currently funded through other MOPAC budgets (rather than MoJ funding). It is then proposed that the funding released by this is allocated to new projects including, enhancements to hate crime projects and programmes as well as grants for innovative services which will improve London’s response to ASB and Cybercrime. 

This decision seeks approval to award this £472,501 to the projects listed in this decision and to profile the spending across 23/24, 24/25, and 25/26. This includes £182,501 which is to be allocated to new and existing hate crime services, £120,000 to test an innovative approach to tackling ASB and £170,000 to address gaps in support for victims of cybercrime. The remaining £2,848.17 will be released back to reserves. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve the award of £182,501 to new and existing hate crime services commissioned by MOPAC from 2023/24 to 2025/26; 

2. Approve the award of £120,000 to pilot innovative community-based approaches to tackling ASB from 2023/24 to 2024/25; 

3. Approve the  award of £170,000 to the Cyber Helpline address gaps in support for victims of cybercrime in London from 2023/24 to 2024/25;  

4. Approve the carry forward of £287,306 to fund the projects in 2024/25 and 2025/26; and to 

5. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Finance Officer to sign the applicable contracts/grant agreements to disburse this funding.  

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background 

1. Since 2014, responsibility for regional commissioning of victim services has been devolved to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). The funding to enable this comes from the Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) Victims Fund and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund, provided to MOPAC via two grant agreements – Core Grant and General Grant.   

2. This funding has traditionally been used to pay for core victims services including: the London Victim and Witness Service; Children’s and Young People’s Service; and Rape Crisis Centres. In addition, the Ministry of Justice has provided additional funding in recent years, including the ringfenced Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence funding (PCD 1190 and PCD 1235) under its General Grant and additional ‘Core Grant’ funding in September 2022 (PCD 1300).  

3. The MoJ have now offered an additional uplift of £347,706.17 in core victims funding in 2023/24. Authority to accept this funding is covered by PCD 1445. 

4. Baroness Casey’s review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the MPS found it to be institutionally misogynistic and homophobic, making clear that trust in the Met has fallen significantly amongst the LGBTQ+ community. 

5. The MPS’ New Met for London Plan commits to protecting the most vulnerable and those Londoners who are most likely to be at highest risk of harm from crime, focusing resources to protect and remove them from harm.  

6. Providing specialist tailored support to victims of hate crime and those supporting cases through the criminal justice process is crucial to both ensuring they receive the support and/or criminal justice outcomes they deserve and improving trust and confidence across London’s diverse communities. 

2. Issues for consideration  

1. MOPAC has currently has £127,643 in unallocated MoJ core victims funding in 2023/24. In June 2023, the MoJ offered an additional uplift of £347,706.17 in core grant funding (see PCD 1445). The combined value of unallocated MoJ core victims funding is therefore £475,349.17. This funding is ringfenced to be spent in 2023/24 only.  

2. The terms of the grant agreement for this MoJ core victims funding allow MOPAC to reallocate funding for existing services which are currently paid for by MOPAC funding at any point during the relevant financial year. This decision therefore seeks authority to reallocate existing spend committed to victims services from MOPAC’s budget with this unallocated MoJ income. Furthermore, this decision then requests authority to reallocate the MOPAC funding released because of this to the projects set out in the table below and to carry forward some of that money where required.. This is in line with the terms of the MoJ grant agreement and will allow this new funding to be spent over multiple financial years, thereby maximising its potential impact.  

3. The £475,349.17 in reallocated MOPAC funds is to be spent on the following services:   

The £2,848.17 in unallocated funding is to form part of MOPAC earmarked reserves. A description of each of the allocated items of spend is included below:  

Hate Crime Victim Service 

4. MOPAC committed to extending the pan-London Hate Crime Victim Service until October 2025 in PCD 1437. This decision is seeking approval to expand the capacity of the Hate Crime Victim Service service’s triage function by recruiting an additional FTE triage worker at a cost of £49,377 per annum. The contract management of the last 18 months demonstrates that the time taken on each triage encounter is greater than anticipated, and the number of referrals continues to rise.  The evaluation of the service supports the conclusion that the demand on the service providers risks exceeding the available resources. This additional triage resource will enable the service to be more resilient in that it will be better placed to manage demand for support in future years, as well as provide a more timely and compassionate service to those victims who are not eligible for the more intensive caseworker service.   

Hate Crime Stakeholder Reference Group Coordination 

5. The London Hate Crime Stakeholders Reference Group (SRG) was established to ensure that the voices of those communities targeted by hate crime are heard within the MPS and MOPAC governance structures in place to combat hate crime.  It provides the sector with an independent voice to hold to account those organisations with the responsibility to respond to hate crime. 

Facilitation of the SRG by a third-party VCSE organisation, at a cost of £30,000 a year for two years, will help maintain its independent character and negate the need for having to source additional capacity within MOPAC to sustain the SRG.   

No2H8 Awards 

6. The Awards celebrate the achievements and work of those who combat hate crime.  As 25% of all reported hate crime occurs in London, the Mayor will sponsor a ‘London Upstanders Award’ for the next three years to complement his written endorsement of the awards.  As well as recognising the work tackling hate crime in London, the nomination process will engage London partners.  The sponsorship will be £7,500 for each year. 

ASB Community Mediation Pilot 

7. In line with the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan commitments to work with London Councils to explore interventions on anti-social behaviour that are not reliant on a criminal justice response, this pilot will be delivered in two London boroughs over two years by a partnership of Local Authority ASB Teams and VCSE mediation services.  The participating Local Authority and its VCSE partner will be selected via a competitive bid process. 

8. The project aims to test a model where Local Authorities, Registered Social Landlords and Business Crime Reduction Partnerships can work in partnership to address ASB wherever it occurs through joint funding of community-based intervention services.   

Monitoring and evaluation of the efficacy of the approach will be built into the pilot with the aim of demonstrating the value to partners of committing to this partnership approach in the longer term.  Those non-contributory partners will participate in overseeing delivery of the project alongside the Local Authority, community-based service provider and local police.  The pilot will fulfil the PCP commitment and the outcomes and learning will be shared with the MOPAC facilitated Local Authorities ASB Forum.  

9. The budget for the pilot will be £120,000.  There is no direct financial benefit for participating Local Authorities, as the funding provides new or expanded services.  Delivery will utilise Local Authority resources and is likely therefore to incur an administrative fee as a cost-recovery exercise.  This overhead is likely to be around 10% to 20% of the contract. 

Cyber Helpline 

10. In the Police and Crime Plan and VAWG Strategy, MOPAC has committed to working with partners to ensure victims of fraud and cybercrime are offered adequate support. Cybercrime is increasingly a factor for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence/exploitation, and stalking who are being supported by MOPAC commissioned services. However, caseworkers in these services sometimes lack the technical knowledge to advise victims on how to address the cyber-related elements of their victimisation (hacking, revenge porn, cyber stalking, online grooming, etc…).  

11. The Cyber Helpline is a new organisation, launched in 2019, that is beginning to take steps in addressing this gap in support. It is made up of volunteer cyber security experts who provide free, expert help for victims of cybercrime & online harm. This investment of grant funding from MOPAC will increase the Cyber Helpline’s capacity and provide a dedicated London capability which will support in the region of 6,000 victims a year in London. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. As the unallocated MoJ core grant funding of £475,349 must all be spent in this financial year (2023/24), it is proposed that, for reporting purposes, this funding is allocated to existing victims services that are currently funded through other MOPAC budgets (rather than MoJ funding). It is then proposed that the funding released by this is allocated to new projects.  

2. This decision therefore requests authority to commit £472,501 of the released MOPAC funds for projects on Cybercrime, ASB and Hate Crime per table 2.3 above. This includes committing £185,195 in 23/24, £231,877 in 24/25, and £55,429 in 25/26.  

3. The total grant award will be recognised as part of Commissioning and Partnerships budget planning to support service delivery and development over the specified timeline confirmed by MoJ. 

4. It is noted the grant awards require no match funding from MOPAC. 

4. Legal Comments 

1. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police service and secure that the metropolitan police service is efficient and effective.” Under Schedule 3, paragraph 7 (1) MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements.   

2. Section 143 (1) (b) of the Anti-Social, Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides for MOPAC to provide or commission services “intended by the local policing body to help victims or witnesses of, or other persons affected by, offences and anti-social behaviour.”   

3. There are further relevant powers set out in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 at sections 17(1) (a) to (c) which place MOPAC under a duty to exercise its functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it can to prevent, crime and disorder (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment), reoffending in its area, and the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in its area. The proposed arrangements are consistent with MOPAC’s duties in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.   

4. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all offers of grant funding.  

5. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve the award of all individual grants whether to secure or contribute to securing crime reduction in London or for other purposes.  

6. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all unforeseen variations and extensions to contracts with an original value of £500,000 or above, when the variation or extension is greater than 10% of the original value and/or is for a period of more than 12 months. 

7. Paragraph 4.6 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the DMPC authority to delegate those functions which are reserved for the DMPC.   

8. These recommendations are in line with the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent.  

9. Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with.  

10. Officers should ensure that the funding agreements are put in place with and executed by MOPAC and each of the providers before any commitment to fund is made. 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. All grants and contracts which utilise this funding will incorporate the relevant terms from the grant agreement between MOPAC and the Ministry of Justice to ensure compliance.  

2. All variations to existing grants and contracts will be made in line with MOPAC’s Contract Regulations and national procurement regulations. 

6. Public Health Approach  

1. This decision provides funding to enable a better informed and more cohesive partnership approach to improving outcomes for victims in London which will align with and support the VRU’s public health approach to tackling the causes of violent crime in London.  

7. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

8. Equality Comments  

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. As highlighted in Baroness Louise Casey’s review, standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have impacted the trust and confidence of marginalised communities.  

3. MOPAC will ensure Equalities considerations form part of all work commissioned with this funding. As part of the quarterly performance monitoring of each service we collect demographics information, which helps us to understand who is accessing each service and how any barriers to accessing may be overcome.