Ministry of Justice Funding for services to victims of crime

MOPAC receives an annual grant from the Ministry of Justice for the local commissioning of victim and witness support services in London. The funding package for 2021/22 includes uplifts to cover increased demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This decision seeks approval to accept the grant funding for 2021/22 and sign the grant agreement. The funding confirmed for 2021/22 is £16,765,943, with a further £2,518,400 committed to domestic abuse and sexual violence provision in 2022/23.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Accept the £16,765,943 grant funding from the Ministry of Justice for victim services for 2021/22; and

2. Accept the commitment of £2,518,400 to fund domestic abuse and sexual violence provision in 2022/23; and

3. Delegate authority to the MOPAC Chief Finance Officer to sign the necessary grant agreement and monitoring returns for this funding.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Since 2014, responsibility for regional commissioning of victim services was devolved to Police and Crime Commissioners. The funding to enable this comes from the Ministry of Justice's Victims Fund and Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund.



1.2. This funding is used to pay for core victims services including: the London Victim and Witness Service; Sexual Assault Referral Centre; Children’s and Young People’s Service; Empower Young People’s Advocates; and Rape Crisis Centres.

1.3. MOPAC’s allocation of The National ISVA and IDVA Fund, Domestic Abuse Support Uplift and Sexual Violence Uplift will be awarded by way of grant funding to organisations delivery frontline victim support in London

1.4. For 2021/22, the Ministry of Justice contribution is £16,765,943 (up from £11,998,568 in 2020/21) and breaks down as follows:

1.5. The Ministry of Justice also awarded a further £2,518,400 from the National ISVA and IDVA Fund, committing to this funding in 2022/23 as confirmed through an Expression of Interest letter.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. MOPAC is required to sign an annual grant agreement to accept this funding which set out the conditions by which this funding is to be spent (including the respective ring-fenced amounts as above) and the reporting requirements. The grant does not require match funding from MOPAC. MOPAC incorporates those requirements in the grant and contractual agreements for services that are funded from this source.

2.2. The devolved funding for the pre-trial witness support service is incorporated into this grant. Any further devolution arrangements for victim services would be incorporated into this grant agreement following the necessary approvals.

2.3. The reporting requirements for this funding include the submission of mid-year and end of year performance returns as well signing a statement confirming compliance with the minimum standards.

2.4. It was recently announced that MoJ will be providing an additional £40m national funding for victim support services next financial year. This funding has been provided to focus in on areas that have been hit hardest by the pandemic:

• Demand for sexual violence (SV) and domestic abuse (DA) support services has increased significantly.

• Due to issues with throughput in the criminal justice system, many victims require greater and longer support through the CJS.

• Small specialist services have found it hard to build capacity and pivot the infrastructure of their services.

2.5. MOPAC’s share of this additional funding is set out in the table at paragraph 1.4. There are some conditions to note around certain elements of this additional funding:

2.5.1. The Domestic Violence Support Uplift and the Sexual Violence Support Uplift are subject to MOPAC submitting a needs assessment to the Ministry of Justice which details how we will allocate the funding. Funding should be distributed to organisations in need across London, including potentially those with whom we do not have existing commissioning arrangements. MOPAC advertised this funding opportunity and run an open competitive process, subsequently up to 23 grants will be awarded. This is being led by the VAWG Team in the Commissioning and Partnerships Directorate.

2.5.2. The National ISVA and IDVA Fund has be accessed through a joint EOI process for ISVAs and IDVAs, outlining requirements and evidence of need. MOPAC has contacted organisations able to demonstrate they deliver an established and accredited IDVA/ISVA service to develop a bid to this fund and was successful in full. Again, this is being led by the VAWG Team.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision requests authority to accept £19,284,343 grant funding from the Ministry of Justice for the provision of Local Victims Services as set out in paragraph 1.5 above.

3.2. Of the total grant award, a sum of £16,765,843 is confirmed for 2021/22 and £2,518,400 remains indicative for 2022/23.

3.3. The indicative grant award of £2,518,400 represents Year 2 funding for local ISVA and IDVA (SV/DA) services and expected to be confirmed within Victims 2022/23 grant award at a later date. This grant is intended to enable adequate capacity build within the SV/DA service programme along with new allocation of £1,952,787 noted within 2021/22 Victims Service grant of £16,765,843.

3.4. MOPAC’s commitment to supporting SV/DA services over a two-year period with a total grant of £4,471,187 is dependent on MoJ’s assurance that 2022/23 core Victims’ service funding can remain at current levels.

3.5. MOPAC is yet to receive 2021/22 MoJ grant agreement, and the assurance on 2022/23 baseline grant. This approval request therefore recognises an element of business risk; should MOPAC decide to commission services over a two-year period, MoJ funding will need to be fully confirmed in 2021/22.

3.6. The total grant award including the 2022/23 uplift will tentatively be recognised as part of Commissioning and Partnerships budget planning to support service development over the specified timeline once confirmed by MoJ.

3.7. It is noted the grant award will require no match funding from MOPAC.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. 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.

4.2. 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.

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

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. 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.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. The VRU will be consulted on services commissioned using this funding to ensure alignment with VRU activity and wider public health approach to tackling violence in London.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. 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

8.1. 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.

8.2. MOPAC will ensure Equalities considerations form part of all work commissioned with this funding.

9. Background/supporting papers

N/A.