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Violence Against Women and Girls Advocacy Support Fund Pre-Market Engagement Registration

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY - The Home Office is seeking to award to eligible organisations to support victims and others affected by violence against women and girls (VAWG) via the VAWG Advocacy Support Fund. The VAWG Victim Advocacy Support Fund will support delivery of seven advocacy services across England and Wales that provide accessible, specialist one-to-one support for victims of VAWG who are least likely to be able to access support locally.

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Contents

Summary

VAWG Advocacy Support Fund

The Authority expects advocacy support services to:

  • Provide 1:1 independent, specialist, and victim-centred support to victims of VAWG, where the support provided relates to responding to the harm from VAWG. This should be provided regardless of whether a victim has chosen to report an offence to the police, whether they have ended the relationship with the perpetrator, or whether they are victims of multiple offences.

  • Target support at geographic areas in England and Wales which are underserved, particularly due to low local population densities. Where possible, services should seek to embed the service into appropriately sized geographic areas and local safeguarding arrangements to enable in person support to be present, while balancing demand and resource pressures.

  • Help victims to understand and navigate systems and processes relating to areas including, but not limited to, victims’ rights, health and wellbeing, reporting to the police, criminal and family justice processes and help accessing support services (such as safe-accommodation or therapeutic support).

  • Work alongside other statutory agencies and multi-agency bodies such as MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference). Where appropriate, the advocacy support may work alongside relevant professionals or organisations, including (but not limited to) the police, health services, housing providers, welfare support, immigration services, wider victim support organisations, and adult and children’s social care. The purpose is to ensure that the victim’s voice is heard, and their needs are being considered, including advocating on their behalf if this is in line with the victim’s preferences.  

  • Undertake needs assessments which should be reviewed regularly. Where a victim has experienced other forms of victimisation, the advocacy service should consider whether they require, or would benefit from, additional support from other specialist professionals.

  • Engage with the victim in safety planning. Safety plans should help a victim to consider what they feel they most need, and to plan the next steps to increase safety – whether remaining in the relationship or planning to leave.  Safety plans should also outline what actions the victim should take if abuse escalates or reoccurs.

  • Develop support plans based on the individual risks and needs of the victim (and any children, if applicable). This should include what support will be provided by the advocate, as well as any necessary onward referrals. This should be reviewed regularly and on an ongoing basis, following every contact with the victim as a minimum. The support plan should consider ‘planned exit’ strategies from advocacy support, in addition to having appropriate regard to ongoing risk management.

  • Demonstrate respective qualifications, safeguarding policies and processes, and training.

  • Advocacy support services WILL NOT provide legal advice. Where legal advice is required, advocates should signpost the victim to relevant support options provided by specialist legal advisers.

Eligibility

 Eligibility information

The Applicant must be:

  • UK based

  • A charity registered with the Charity Commission, which is independent of statutory bodies

  • Able demonstrate specialism. Applicants must explicitly include reference to supporting the cohort(s) in line with the service which the organisation is applying for:  

VAWG Advocacy Support Fund

  • LGBT+ victims of abuse (Advocacy support for LGBT+ victims of VAWG)

  • Older victims of abuse (Advocacy support for older victims of VAWG)

  • Deaf and disabled victims of abuse (Advocacy support for Deaf and disabled victims of VAWG)

  • Victims of abuse from ethnic minoritised communities (Advocacy support for victims of VAWG from ethnic minoritised groups (including Gypsy and Irish Traveller and victims of different faiths))

  • Victims of ‘honour’-based abuse (Advocacy support for victims of ‘honour’-based abuse)

  • Victims of cybercrime and/or non-consensual intimate images and/or sexual violence (Advocacy support for victims of non-consensual intimate image abuse)

  • Victims of sexual exploitation (Advocacy support for victims of sexual exploitation) 

This specialism must be demonstrated in either:

  • The ‘Charitable Objects’ in the Articles of Association; OR

  • The activities of spend as registered on the Charity Commission website under ‘Charity Overview’; OR

  • Objectives in the Trustee Annual Report (year ending March 2024 or March 2025). 

 The Applicant must:

  • Be able to deliver the Purpose for the full duration of the grant period, including any possible extension period.

  • Be able to meet all the outcomes as set out in the Statement of Outcomes.

  • Be able to fully cover the geographic region required for the service they are applying for.

  • Be able to demonstrate that they can spend their entire potential funding award by the funding end date.

  • Be able to demonstrate they have operated as a specialist service supporting the cohort for the past two financial years. 

Applicants may submit; 

  • Multiple applications as a sole applicant per Helpline and or per Advocacy Service where they meet eligibility; and/or

  • Multiple applications as part of a consortium per Helpline and or per Advocacy Service where they meet eligibility. 

o   E.g. consortium as part of a single Helpline or single Advocacy Service

o   E.g. consortium as part of multiple/all Helplines or multiple/all Advocacy Services

The following are NOT eligible to apply:

  • Local authorities

  • Police and Crime Commissioners

  • NHS Trusts

  • Schools, universities and academic institutions

  • Individuals

  • Private companies (i.e. organisations that do not meet the above criteria) 

  • Community groups which are not registered with the Charity Commission

  • Community Interest Companies which are not registered with the Charity Commission

  • Social Enterprises which are not registered with the Charity Commission

  • Non-Government Organisations which are not registered with the Charity Commission

Objectives

Outcome 1: Improved access to specialist tailored support and address gaps in underserved communities.

Outcome 2: Improved outcomes for victims; and increased feelings of safety, wellbeing, independence, resilience, being supported, and reduced risk of harm, escalation of abuse, and re-victimisation.

Outcome 3: Improved navigation of wider services and systems.

Outcome 4: Strengthened specialist and ‘by and for’ sector capacity, efficiency, collaboration and innovation.

Outcome 5: Improved awareness of provision.

Dates

Relevant dates are indicative and may be subject to change. 

Launch:                                                                       15th June 2026

Clarification Questions:                                         15th June 2026

Close of Clarification Questions:                         20th July 2026 (NB - If Applicant is given access to Jaggaer after this date, they cannot submit clarifications.)

Deadline for Application access requests:        24th July 2026 (17:00)

Close of competition:                                             31st July 2026 (13:00)

Grant start:                                                                October 2026

The funding period will be for Financial Year 2026/27, Financial Year 2027/28, and Financial Year 2028/29.

How to apply

How to apply

Step 1:

In order to apply for funding, Applicants will first need to register on the Home Office (HO) Jaggaer portal via the following link: https://homeoffice.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Applicants should be approved for usage within 24 hours of registering on the system.

After clicking on the eSourcing portal link, it should take you to the home page. On the left-hand side of this page, just below the login boxes, there is an option to register.

To register as a supplier, you will need to provide information which will include:

  • The full legal name of your organisation;

  • Your DUNS number – a unique nine-digit number provided to organisations free of charge by Dun & Bradstreet (if your organisation does not have a DUNS number, please go to: Request a Dun & Bradstreet D-U-N-S Number and follow the guidance to register for a number. 

PLEASE NOTE: Registering on the Jaggaer portal will not automatically give you access to the competition documents. The Applicant will need to ‘Pass’ the eligibility questions first and then manually be added by the Grants Team to the competition documents on Jaggaer**.** 

Step 2:

DO NOT HIT THE APPLY BUTTON ON THE ADVERT. 

  • Applicants must send in ALL the following information in order to prove eligibility:

  • All information requestions must be sent, an Applicant will fail if any required information is missing.

  •  Applicants must achieve a ‘pass’ score to be given access. These are pass or fail questions and will not be scored.

  •  You will only be contacted if the Home Office determines your application is not eligible.

  •  Where applying as a consortium all information must to be provided per consortium member and NOT solely for the Lead. 

Required information:

  • Name (as registered on Jaggaer)

  • Email (as registered on Jaggaer)

  • Organisation name (as registered on Jaggaer)

  • Chairty number:

  • Organisation type: sole/consortium/lead partner

  • Confirm UK based: Yes/No

·       Funding Preference: Advocacy Support Service(s) applying for

  • LGBT+ victims of abuse (Advocacy support for LGBT+ victims of VAWG)

  • Older victims of abuse (Advocacy support for older victims of VAWG)

  • Deaf and disabled victims of abuse (Advocacy support for Deaf and disabled victims of VAWG)

  • Victims of abuse from ethnic minoritised communities (Advocacy support for victims of VAWG from ethnic minoritised groups (including Gypsy and Irish Traveller and victims of different faiths))

  • Victims of ‘honour’-based abuse (Advocacy support for victims of ‘honour’-based abuse)

  • Victims of cybercrime and/or non-consensual intimate images and/or sexual violence (Advocacy support for victims of non-consensual intimate image abuse)

  • Victims of sexual exploitation (Advocacy support for victims of sexual exploitation) 

·       Evidence: Provide links to publicly available proof via the Charity Commission website.  

In order to demonstrate specialism, Applicants must explicitly include reference to support the cohort in line with the service which the organisation is applying for.

This must be demonstrated in in either:

  • The ‘Charitable Objects’ in the Articles of Association; OR

  • The activities of spend as registered on the Charity Commission website under ‘Charity Overview’; OR

  • Objectives in the Trustee Annual Report (year ending March 2024 or March 2025). 

Please send an email with all required eligibility information to: vawgadvocacyfund@homeoffice.gov.uk  and request access to Advocacy Support Fund.

DEADLINE: The Authority will NOT accept any emails from Applicants requesting to be added to Jaggaer after 17:00 Friday 24th July 2026.

Supporting information