Partly Confidential – Appendices confidential due to commercial sensitivity – s43

Decision summary:

This Decision Notice provides notice of the formal acceptance and allocation of £16,522 of additional critical support funding – Covid 19, from the Ministry of Justice, which must be used on eligible expenditure for domestic abuse and sexual violence services before the 31st March 2022.  All the grant conditions must be complied with.  The funding will be pass–ported to our partners, based on their expressions of interest to provide additional services to reduce waiting lists. 

I confirm that my register of interests declaration is up to date and that none of my interests preclude me from making this decision.  

Signature: Philip Seccombe  

Date: 18th February 2022 

Supporting information

1. Background information

The Ministry of Justice have identified some additional funding under the critical support fund – Covid 19, which they have allocated to PCC’s following the receipt of expressions of interest from them, outlining how the ongoing pandemic and particularly the Omicron variant has impacted on the delivery of services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.  Warwickshire PCC has been allocated £16,522, which must be spent by the 31st March 2022. 

The funding will be pass-ported to an existing partner and will be used to deliver increased counselling services with the aim of reducing waiting lists.  The impact of Omicron has been particularly felt, following the Christmas period.  Some of the main issues which this funding will help to address are outlined below: 

• Heightened anxiety due to Omicron and fear around isolating again, extra support for those with PTSD/CPTSD and other mental health issues and self-harming behaviours, more sessions required to support survivors to embed coping strategies and regulate emotions  
• Anticipated Increase number of referrals 
• Clients requiring more support, counselling turnaround of waiting list is longer 
• more experienced counsellors are needed to handle complex cases 

2. List of additional information attached as appendices

Not applicable 

3. Expected benefits

The extra funding will be used to enhance the services including counselling for the victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.  This will help to reduce waiting lists, and help to ensure that victims and survivors receive the support they require sooner. 

4. Impact of not approving the application

The Commissioner will not receive the additional funding allocation on offer and this will mean that the enhanced counselling services will not be provided, and waiting lists may not be reduced as anticipated.   

5. Costs (including any identified savings)

The Ministry of Justice has allocated a further £16,522 to Warwickshire under the critical support funding stream, to support the provision of eligible services up to the 31st March 2022. 

6. Equality implications

All relevant policies apply to all aspects of this funding and spending 

7. Legal comments

The PCC is the grant recipient of the Ministry of Justice funding and must accept and comply with the grant conditions.  In turn, the PCC will prepare terms and conditions for the provider of services which must be agreed by them before the funding will be released. 

8. Publication

Information in this form is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) and other legislation.  Unless the information provided is covered by an exemption and stated to be either confidential or partly confidential, the information contained in the form will be published on the OPCC website.   

Comments from the Treasurer

The Ministry of Justice has made the additional funding available very late in the financial year.  It has allocated £16,522 to Warwickshire PCC.  The grant conditions require the funding to be spent on eligible items.  The PCC has chosen to allocate this additional funding to one of its existing partners and will be spent on additional counselling services to help reduce waiting lists and assist more victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. 

Comments from the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer

A process has been completed to allocate this late notice funding in a fair and proportionate way.