The government has announced that it will be offering an additional £2 million for domestic abuse charities affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The fund, which has been initiated by the Home Office, will offer support to domestic abuse charities “with a national or regional presence” affected by the outbreak.

Services which fall under the funding’s umbrella include those offering independent domestic violence advisors (IDVAs), CHIDVAs, family court support, face to face or remote counselling for individuals and/or their families, and support for BAME/disabled/LGBT victims.

Charities which provide support for “honour”-based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation can also apply.

The guidance explains that in order to make a claim for funding, the primary purpose of the organisation’s service must be to give support to female and/or male victims who have experienced domestic abuse at any point in their life.

This includes adults and children.

However, organisations can’t use the funding to develop new projects or services which are not related to the COVID-19 response.

Organisations that meet the following criteria can apply for funding:

• Organisations which provide a national service (England and Wales)
• Organisations where the supported victims are very geographically dispersed over multiple police and crime commissioner (PCC) areas, and/or no one PCC area is the clear base for the majority of victims
• Umbrella or second tier organisations
• Organisations which do capacity building, or which support other organisations to support victims and survivors. This includes those supporting the police in their response to domestic abuse. It also includes those supporting local authorities or other statutory bodies.

The Home Office is in the process of finalising the application forms for the funding, which it says it hopes to have ready shortly.

You can access the press release and the guide here.