More money to support trafficking and stalking victims

Additional funding for services supporting victims of crime, and to improve public understanding of stalking offences, has been announced by Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf.

The £137,000 funding, made up of one-off grants to selected charities, includes funding to cover additional costs incurred during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Action Against Stalking will be funded to deliver social media work highlighting the offence and how victims can report it and get support. The Scottish Government will also fund research into the volume and nature of stalking victims' experience during lockdown.

Victim Support Scotland will be able to strengthen its communications systems, improving how it records information from victims and helping reduce the frequency with which they may need to retell their experience.

The Anchor Service, which provides a national psychological trauma service to adult trafficking victims, including more than 100 referred to it since April 2020, will get extra funding to help meet additional costs incurred over that period.

PETAL, a charity which supports people bereaved by crime, will be funded to provide additional training for counsellors and therapists and to improve its online provision of support and information.

The Manda Centre's “Freedom Programme”, a peer support course for women survivors of violence, and the SafeTime Project for those bereaved by murder, will also receive funding to help meet additional costs incurred by practitioners.

Specialist domestic abuse advocacy service ASSIST will have additional money to support survivors of domestic abuse and families to engage with services and improve digital access by providing devices such as laptops or phones.

Mr Yousaf commented: “Some crimes have fallen further during the COVID-19 lockdown, but others have not, and we have already increased resources available for a range of victims' support services during the pandemic.

“This latest funding will help six charities to meet the costs of their essential work supporting victims and to enhance some of the services they provide, as well as supporting a survey to improve understanding about the impact and extent of stalking offences.”