EOI - National Remote Support Service for Victims Grant

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is seeking feedback on the commissioning of a national 24/7 remote support service for victims across England and Wales. This is currently being delivered through the MoJ’s Remote Service Grant which supports Live Chat and My Support Space delivered by Victim Support.  

The aim of the grant will be to deliver immediate, accessible and remote emotional and practical support and information for victims, witnesses and third parties (friends, family and professionals supporting victims and witnesses) affected by any crime type. This support will be available 24 hours, 7 days a week, regardless of whether the individual wants to report the crime to the police, and regardless of when the crime took place. Support will be available across England and Wales and will be aimed at individuals aged 16 and over. Service users will be able to access support anonymously if they choose to do so. 

The grant value is yet to be confirmed but is expected to be in the region of the current grant value, which is £561,668 per annum.  

The design of this grant is currently active and in the early stages of development. To support this, the MoJ is seeking feedback from interested parties on the design, and to assess the level of interest from potential applicants. The MoJ therefore invites interested organisations to complete a short questionnaire, which we would request you return to: tabitha.falcus@justice.gov.uk.  

Please note that providing feedback does not constitute a formal application for this grant. In addition, this invitation to submit expressions of interest does not guarantee that a grant competition will go ahead.  

Objectives:  

1. To provide immediate emotional and practical support 

2. To support victims, witnesses and third parties (friends, family and professionals supporting victims and witnesses) in relation to any crime type, regardless of when it happened, or whether they wish to report the crime to police 

3. Support is available 24/7  

4. Users of the service are able to access support anonymously if they choose to do so 

5. The service is available nationally across England and Wales, and is aimed at individuals aged 16 and over 

Outcomes: 

• Victims and witnesses of crime receive the support they need to cope and build resilience to move forward with daily life 

• Victims and witnesses of crime feel more informed 

• Third parties (friends, family and professionals supporting victims and witnesses of crime) feel more informed 

We ask that potential applicants do not provide detailed responses setting out their proposed delivery model (as this would come later in an application form for the grant competition), we are requesting only brief answers to each of the questions. At this stage we are aiming to: 

• identify interest in delivering a national remote service to support victims 

• better understand the potential market of interest 

• understand any barriers that organisations may face and where possible address these in the design of the grant programme 

We will not be using the expressions of interest to assess proposals or shortlist in any way and interested organisations will have the opportunity to engage with us further in future Market Engagement exercises.