Charities working with survivors of rape and abuse have welcomed a Scottish Government pledge that they are to be allocated three year funding
Charities which offer support to survivors of abuse and rape are to be offered three year rolling funding for the first time.
From July 2017 all funding under the Scottish Government’s equality budget will move away from one year funding streams.
Charities have welcomed the announcement saying it will offer them much needed security to carry out their work effectively.
Marsha Scott, chair of Scottish Women’s Aid, said: “We are delighted to hear contracts funded from the equality budget will span three years.
“It is hard to overstate how important a more stable and efficient funding environment is to our Women’s Aid groups, our women’s sector partners who do such important work to address the causes of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls, and to ourselves.
“Three-year contracts allow us all to spend more time on service provision, and investment in early intervention.
“Most important, perhaps, the government’s announcement sends the signal to other funders and to women and children experiencing domestic abuse that Women’s Aid services are stable and sustainable and Scotland’s eyes are on the prize of ending domestic abuse.”
Sandy Brindley, national coordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, added: “Equality organisations throughout Scotland play a vital role in protecting and promoting the human rights of different groups of people within Scottish society. Security of funding is crucial for organisations such as rape crisis centres.
“We are delighted to hear that a three year funding package is going to be made available. This will give organisations such as ours some security moving forward.
“Crucially, it means that we can dedicate more resources to our work supporting survivors of sexual violence, rather than filling out yearly application forms.”
Announcing the new funding model, equalities secretary Angela Constance said the move would provide greater clarity and reassurance for organisations that prevent violence against women and girls, as well as those who work to tackle hate crime and discrimination, allowing them to plan for the longer term.
“These organisations do a huge amount of work in supporting those affected by violence against women and girls, and we want to enable them to plan and function as well as possible.
“Enabling and empowering women to leave violent situations requires long term work and planning, and so we know longer-term reassurance, and preventative action, is important to this sector in particular.”
