Over 100 successful charity bids across England will receive a share of £8.1 million government funding to continue to provide life-saving services during the current crisis, Homelessness Minister Luke Hall announced today (5 June 2020).

This funding will support domestic abuse safe accommodation services. It will provide over 1,500 bed spaces beds to support survivors of domestic abuse at risk during the pandemic, and will also support the critical work these charities do to help survivors and their children to rebuild their lives.

The funding comes from £10 million that has been made available to domestic abuse charities to support them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A second bidding round opened today in order to allocate the rest of the funding.

Successful charities in this round include:

• Refuge, which has been awarded £900,000 to support 48 refuges and over 300 bed spaces across the country;
• Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid, working in partnership with 4 other domestic abuse services, making available up to 200 bed spaces
• Latin American Women’s Aid, working with specialist organisations Asha, Ashiana Network and London Black Women’s Project, to provide additional 20 bed spaces.

Homelessness Minister Luke Hall said: 

Home should be a place of sanctuary, but for domestic abuse survivors and their children, it is the opposite. 

Protecting survivors is an absolute priority during these unprecedented times and beyond. The funding will give charities the vital lifeline they need to help people across England escape abuse and rebuild their lives, away from the threat of violence.

Nicole Jacobs, Designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner:

This is excellent news for all those safe accommodation charities who are working so hard to keep to vital services open and running and provide support to survivors of domestic abuse and their children during the pandemic.

I am so pleased to see the success of specialist charities in securing funding, particularly those who support black and marginalised women when they need it most.   

I have worked with MHCLG on the fund and I have been impressed by the speed of delivery and robust processes in place to assess applications.  I look forward to continuing to work closely with MHCLG and across government to ensure that funding is made available quickly to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse during these difficult and dangerous times.

Over a third of successful applicants offer specialist services to particular groups such as BAME, LGBT and disabled victims.

Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. They are dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls. They hold nearly two decades of experience of working around issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence.

Baljit Banga, Executive Director, Imkaan said: 

I am very pleased about the news of the successful bids from Black and minoritised women’s organisations. This level of success has not happened in a very long time, so I want to acknowledge the wisdom of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in providing support to this sector.

I know that this sector adds significant social value to this country. I know organisations have been struggling under the emergency of the two pandemics – COVID 19 and VAWG (violence against women and girls) – I thank MHCLG and I value the support you have provided.

Government has also confirmed that it will bring forward legislation to give domestic abuse victims ‘priority need’ access to settled housing, ensuring they can find a home which is safe, secure and away from the threat of abuse.

This funding allocation follows the virtual Hidden Harms Summit convened by the Prime Minister last month which was held in response to the unique challenges victims have faced during the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they continue to get support.

This builds on recent government action to protect survivors of domestic abuse during the current pandemic and beyond, including:

• Over £16 million to 75 projects to help fund domestic abuse refuge services for victims and their children;
• £25 million for support services for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the community during the coronavirus outbreak, plus £3 million to fund Independent Sexual Violence Advisers until 2022;
• A new campaign, under the hashtag #YouAreNotAlone, highlighting that those at risk of, or experiencing, domestic abuse can still leave and seek refuge and publicising support available

• On 7 May 2020, it was announced that £10 million in funding has been made available to domestic abuse charities to support them during the Covid-19 pandemic
• A second round of funding has opened today to allocate the remaining funding. Find out more information and apply.
• In addition to the £8.1 million for accommodation services, Government is also providing further support to protect the most vulnerable. This includes:
  • In February, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provided £16.6 million to 75 projects across England to help fund domestic abuse refuge services, enabling victims and their children to stay safe, recover from the trauma, and access safe permanent rehousing where needed.
  • The Department for Education will provide £26.4 million to support vulnerable children, including support for families of disabled children and working to safeguard vulnerable children including care leavers and children in the early years. This funding applies to England, except for funding for Childline, which will apply to the UK.
  • The Ministry of Justice will provide £25 million to help victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence in the community access support services during the coronavirus outbreak, and a further £3 million per annum investment in Independent Sexual Violence Advisers until 2022. This funding applies to England and Wales.
  • The Home Office will be providing £3.8 million for community-based domestic abuse services and modern slavery services, and for added support for modern slavery charities who have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. The Home Office will be providing £7.8 million in emergency support for charities helping vulnerable children who have been impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. This includes children at risk of sexual abuse and criminal exploitation. This funding applies to England and Wales.
• The Home Office launched a new public awareness campaign in April, under the hashtag #YouAreNotAlone, highlighting that if anyone is at risk of, or experiencing, domestic abuse, they are still able leave and seek refuge. The campaign publicises support available including the freephone, 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline number – 0808 2000 247 – run by Refuge, and online.

World leaders have pledged US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, far exceeding the target of US$ 7.4 billion.

The funding will help immunise 300 million more children in lower-income countries against diseases like measles, polio and diphtheria by the end of 2025. It will also support health systems to withstand the impact of coronavirus and maintain the infrastructure necessary to roll out a future COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale.

The pledges were made at the Global Vaccine Summit 2020, hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Representatives from 52 countries, including 35 Heads leaders from global health organisations, the private sector, vaccine manufacturers and civil society organisations to support the Vaccine Alliance’s work protecting almost half the world’s children against deadly, preventable diseases.

Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, said:

Britain has been honoured to host this summit today. You can count on our full contribution as together we rise to fulfil the greatest shared endeavour of our lifetime – the triumph of humanity over disease, now and for the generations that follow.

As we make the choice to unite and forge a path of global co-operation, let us also renew our collective resolve to find the vaccine that can defeat coronavirus.

British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott said:

GAVI has been operating for over 20 years having vaccinated over 700 million children across the world and Kenya is one of the top 20 priority countries. I’m proud of the UK’s long history of working with Kenya on vaccines.

If you’re in Kenya and have received a measles, pneuomonia or HPV vaccine, that has been through GAVI with UK support. This work is essential if we are to avoid further disease outbreaks and epidemics which would place additional strain on health systems already weakened by coronavirus.

The UK remains the Vaccine Alliance’s largest donor, pledging the equivalent of £330 million per year over the next five years. Other top donors include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norway, Germany and the United States. Eight countries made their first ever pledge to Gavi, including Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal and Uganda.

As well as supporting the routine vaccination of hundreds of millions of children in lower-income countries from infectious diseases, the new support will also be used to help lower-income countries meet the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic by strengthening health systems and vaccine distribution.

The Global Vaccine Summit also saw the launch of the Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (COVAX AMC), a new innovative financing instrument to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries. This is the first building block towards a global mechanism to ensure equitable access to future COVID-19 vaccines.

Notes to editors:

• The summit was attended by Australia, Canada, China, European Commission, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, France, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, USA, India, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Finland, Iceland, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, UAE, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Ghana, Afghanistan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Liberia, Egypt, Jordan, Singapore, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Georgia, Yemen, Myanmar, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritania, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Chad, Mexico, Tanzania, South Africa and Argentina.

• The new AMC builds on the success of the first Advance Market Commitment for Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines (PCV), which prevent the leading cause of pneumonia. In the 11 years since the AMC’s launch it has helped protect more than 225 million children across 60 low and lower-middle income countries, saving more than 700,000 lives. Current AMC donors Italy, UK, Norway, Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be among the sponsors of the new COVAX AMC.

• About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 760 million children – and prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.