Two year grant agreements for the hate crime victims support services

In his Police and Crime Plan the Mayor pledged to stand up against hate and intolerance and provide better support to its victims. He made ten specific commitments on hate crime including an extension of the pilot of Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates (HCVAs), who can offer specialist and targeted support for high risk victims of hate crime and help reduce victimisation and support services that are centred around the needs of the victim.

The continued provision of these services enables MOPAC to scope the options for specialised victim support and a pan-London hate crime advocacy service that will fulfil the Mayor’s commitment, within the context of both the Victims’ Needs Assessment undertaken by the Victims Commissioner for London and the broader commissioning plans for victims services going forward.

These agreements provide for the same level of service as the agreements in place for the last two years and include the additional clauses required of our grant agreements by the Ministry of Justice Performance Framework and GDPR regulations.

A two-year commitment demonstrates the Mayor’s commitment to ensuring viable and high quality services are provided for the full Mayoral term while allowing MOPAC to scope the options for victims services as part of future commissioning plans.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is asked to agree the provision of Grant Agreements for the delivery of hate crime victim support services from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020 for the following amounts;

• £350,000 for the hate crime victim advocacy service delivered by the CATCH consortium

• 168,814 for a part-time caseworker to support LGBT victims of hate crime and sexual violence

• £47,504 for a service to monitor levels of anti-Semitic hate crime in London and support victims

The total amount for three two-year grant agreements is £566,318

1. Introduction and background

1.1. In his Police and Crime Plan the Mayor recognises hate crime can be deeply upsetting and humiliating for the victim, and that victims who do not believe they will be taken seriously may be reluctant to report hate crimes to the police. This makes it hard to measure the real impact of it on the capital and the effectiveness of measures designed to reduce it. He has pledged to deliver better support for victims of hate crime and improve the level of satisfaction of hate crime victims with the service they receive from the MPS and Criminal Justice Service.

1.2. In late 2015 the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) offered a conditional grant for the delivery of a one year pilot Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates scheme. The purpose of the pilot was to establish whether such a scheme would improve outcomes for victims including; reduced repeat victimisation, increased feelings of safety, improved accessibility of services and a reduction in the attrition rate of prosecutions if victims choose a criminal justice path. A competitive, conditional grant award process was used to commission the year-long pilot, which commenced on April 1 2016.

1.3. The consortium Community Action To Combat Hate (CATCH) successfully bid to deliver the pilot in two London boroughs, Hackney and Westminster. CATCH is led by GALOP but includes partners who offer support across all five strands of hate crime. Returns from, and evaluation of, the pilot demonstrated that it delivered both success against the outcomes and important learning opportunities to inform a potential pan-London roll out.

1.4. The pilot of Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates scheme was central to MOPAC’s efforts to improve support for victims of hate crime. The scheme built on the success of Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advocates who support victims in the aftermath of these crimes and through the criminal justice process. The 2016/17 pilot Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates scheme in Hackney and Westminster demonstrated the benefit of specialist and targeted support for high-risk victims of hate crime. The Mayor believes that extending those services will help in supporting repeat victims and, alongside other actions, reduce the level of repeat victimisation.

1.5. Alongside the hate crime victims’ advocates service, MOPAC has supported specialised hate crime victim support services through small grant agreements with Galop, the pan-London LGBT anti-violence charity, and the Community Security Trust (CST) which monitors levels of anti-Semitic hate crime and supports victims from Jewish communities.

1.6. In the Police and Crime Plan for London, published in March 2017, the Mayor made ten specific commitments to challenge hate and intolerance in London and provide better support to victims. One commitment was to establish hate crime advocacy services across London by extending the MOPAC commissioned pilot service delivered in FY2016/17. At that point MOPAC entered discussions with CATCH about transitional arrangements beyond the end of the pilot, and a further grant agreement was established to support the service for the FY2017/18. MOPAC has continued to engage with stakeholders about the best way to deliver a pan-London service hate crime advocacy service in the long tem.

1.7. The MOPAC hate crime victims’ advocates scheme was recognised as an example of good practice in the Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan, “Action Against Hate” (July 2016), and similarly recognised by the European Forum for Urban Security in its manual of good practices for combatting discriminatory violence in Europe.

1.8. The other commitments pledged support services centred around the needs of victims and to provide development and capacity for specialised hate crime victim support organisations to meet rising demand.

1.9. Galop and CST have a commendable track record in supporting victims from the LGBT and Jewish communities respectively. They have consistently met or exceeded the requirements in previous grant agreements and are valued partners to MOPAC and the MPS, contributing to policy development and stakeholder engagement above and beyond the services MOPAC has commissioned from them.

2. Issues for Consideration

Outcomes

2.1. The hate crime victims advocates scheme has thus far been delivered against a set of agreed outcomes and measurements. Returns from CATCH demonstrated that outcome measures were met (and in most cases exceeded) in all quarters.

2.2. An evaluation of the 2016/17 pilot was undertaken by the MOPAC Evidence and Insight Unit. The report endorsed what data returns and steering group meetings suggested, that the existence of such a service; reduced repeat victimisation; increased feelings of safety; and enjoyed high levels of victim satisfaction with the service provided for those who were able to access it. The report also provide an early evidence base for the scalability and sustainability of an extended Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates scheme. The report is attached as APPENDIX 4. The report has been shared with CATCH consortium partners but has not been published.

2.3. Galop grant agreements to support casework have included part outcome based payment. These outcomes have been consistently met and Galop has provided quantitive and qualitative feedback on the service it provides as part of the grant agreement.

2.4. CST grant agreements have not included an outcomes based payment element. However, CST has provided quantitive and qualitative feedback on the service it provides as part of the grant agreement.

The Grant Agreements

2.5. The grant agreements ensure the delivery of the specialised hate crime victim support services from April 2 2018 (i.e. the Monday following the end of the FY 2017/18 grant agreement) to March 31 2020. The duration provides the opportunity for MOPAC to undertake stakeholder engagement and scope the establishment of specialised hate crime victims support services to fulfil the Mayor’s commitments.

o The grant amounts are the same per year as the two previous grant agreements for the services; £175,000 for the hate crime victims’ advocates service; £84,407 for the Galop part-time caseworker; £23,752 for the CST anti-Semitic monitoring and victim support service. The total grants are £350,000; £168,814; and £47,504 respectively. The combined total for the purposes of this decision is £566,318.

o Payments for the CATCH hate crime victims advocates service are based on the successful delivery of outcomes outlined in the grant agreement. No payment by outcomes element is included in the Galop caseworkher grant agreement, however, the targets set in a 10% outcomes based payment element included in the previous year’s grant are set as a baseline for the delivery of services under the renewed grant agreement. No payment by outcomes element is included in the CST grant agreement.

2.6. The terms of the grant agreements are very similar to the grant agreements provided in FY2016/17 and FY2017/18. The differences are the inclusion of clauses that reflect the MOJ Performance Framework, and GDPR responsibilities. The agreement uses the standardised MOPAC grant agreement template adopted in 2018.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The budget requirement for the £566,318 for the three grant agreements is factored within the 2018/19 Victims Commissioning budget which is partly funded through the MOJ Victims Grant.

3.2. Authority for this decision is contained in MOPAC Decision Reference PCD 174 “Integrated Victim and Witness Services Resource Plan 2017-20”, signed by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime on 7 April 2017, specifically paragraph 5.1, bullet point 2 “Challenging and changing behaviours through a public awareness and challenge campaign;” , and section 6 ‘Commissioning and Programme Delivery’.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. MOPAC powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (2011). Section 3(6) of the 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 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. Under section 9 (3) of the Act MOPAC has the power to make grants and to make any provision within those grant agreements as is deemed appropriate.

5. Equality Comments

5.1. 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 to people with the protected characteristics; age, disability, gender assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

5.2. The definition of hate crime was set by the Home Office, in agreement with criminal justice system partners, in 2007. It states that “A hate crime is defined as any criminal offence which is perceived,by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a personal characteristic; specifically actual or perceived race,religion/faith, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity.” As such, certain communities are disproportionately affected by hate crimes on the basis of one or other of those characteristics.

5.3. The hate crime victims’ advocates scheme provides a cohort of clients disproportionately affected by hate crime additional specialist support to help them cope and recover and navigate the criminal justice services (CJS) if a CJS outcome is their preferred option.

5.4. The CATCH consortium consists of partners who work with and support victims of all strands of hate crime whether it be motivated by race, faith, sexual orientation, disability or transgender status or an intersection of two or more of these personal characteristics.

5.5. Victims of disability hate crime are among the least likely to report and can have some of the most complex needs. The consortium plans for the up-front payment goes some way to address this by increasing the capacity for potential disability support partners and engaging directly about the service with Inclusion London and Death and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs)

6. Background/supporting papers

6.1. APPENDIX 1 - Grant agreement with Galop, as the lead partner of the CATCH consortium, for the provision of a hate crime victims’ advocates scheme.

6.2. APPENDIX 2 - Grant agreement with Galop for the provision of a part-time caseworker to support victims of hate crime and sexual abuse

6.3. APPENDIX 3 - Grant agreement with CST for anti-Semitic hate crime monitoring and victim support

6.4. APPENDIX 4 – Hate Crime Victims Advocate Service Evaluation Report 2017