Funding for victims of crime transfers to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in October 2014. They will be responsible for commissioning locally most of the emotional and practical support services for victims of crime that are provided by the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector from April 2015. These are the services that help victims to cope with and recover from the impacts of crime.
An allocation of funding was provided by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) late in the financial year, and this was to enable PCCs to:
• build the capacity and capability of potential providers of services for victims
(including potential providers of restorative justice services) from the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector;
• commission restorative justice services if capacity and capability are sufficient in
relation to these services;
• prepare for local commissioning.
It is not envisaged that PCCs roll over large funds and they have been asked to report to the MoJ on expenditure in 2013-14 and specific plans to spend any rollover on capacity and capability funding. Only where plans are in place for spend in relation to capacity and capability building and in preparing for local commissioning will roll over be allowed. It is not possible to roll over funding for the actual commissioning of Restorative Justice services or wider victims services.
