Greater Manchester: £3.9M to be spent on rape services

The Ministry of Justice announced this week that it would investing a total of £3.9million on a range of projects.

They day that this comes as part of their commitment to quadrupling funding for victim support services by 2025 compared to 2010.      

Victims Minister Ed Argar MP said: “We are determined that, alongside this Government's clear focus and progress on ensuring more criminals who commit rape and sexual offences face justice, victims and survivors of these dreadful crimes get the support they need.  

Police have also begun to implement new strategies when dealing with rape and sexual assault (Image: Newsquest)

“The funding announced today helps ensure that charities and organisations up and down the country are able to continue doing their vital work helping victims of these crimes.”

The money will be invested as part of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF), which was first launched in 2011.

This comes alongside police forces all across England and Wales, including Greater Manchester Police, changing approached to investigating rapes to aim to centre the needs and rights of victims. 

Projects around Greater Manchester and the North West that will receive some of the cash include Greater Manchester Rape Crisis, which offers female only support including specialised services for ethnic minority women and survivors of sexual abuse in a religious setting. 

Another will be male specific support provider We Are Survivors and Trafford Rape Crisis which offers various support programmes including some specifically for women from ethnic minorities.

Greater Manchester Rape Crisis CEO Anne Stebbings said the funding would make a huge difference to the lives of the women she works with.

She said: “Greater Manchester Rape Crisis asked a group of survivors to tell us the difference the services funded by the MOJ have made to their lives.

“These are some of their responses: 'Because of this funding ‘I am not alone’, ‘I have lived another year’, ‘I have hope, ‘I have a voice.’” 

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The other groups have been similarly boosted.

We Are Survivors chief executive officer Duncan Craig OBE said: “We are over the moon to be in receipt of a grant of £746,843 over the next two years from the MOJ RASASF grant.

“This money will really help us meet the continuing growing demand of male survivors here in a city marred by the biggest rape case in British legal history, all victims who were male.  

He added: “We expect to see a 35 per cent increase in requests for support over the next 2 years and this award enables us to get well underway with meeting that increased need.”