- Area:
- Scotland
- Release date:
- 14 2 2012
Over £6 million of Lottery money is to be spent on supporting families living with domestic abuse across Scotland. While Valentine’s Day is seen as a time to celebrate romance the reality for many is day to day life living in fear of a violent partner.
Now the Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery Good Cause distributors, has announced a package of funding worth £6,494,961 to 18 projects across Scotland. This funding means there will be greater access to proven support services for women and families who have lived through domestic abuse.
There are currently 50,000 recorded incidents of domestic abuse in Scotland each year and Scottish Women’s Aid believes that one in five women will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives.
Big Lottery Fund, Scotland Director, Jackie Killeen said: “This funding is going to help women and children who have been affected by domestic abuse. We know women who have been abused at home often go on to suffer from further emotional and physical problems and the sooner they can source effective support and help, the better their long term future will be.
“It’s clear from the response to our programme that women and children across Scotland need this support now. The Big Lottery Fund is all about helping those in most need and this £6.5 million will make a real difference to some of Scotland’s most vulnerable and hidden communities.”
Heather Coady, Children’s Policy Manager at Scottish Women’s Aid (SWA) said: “Scottish Women’s Aid welcomes the news that the Big Lottery Fund has funded domestic abuse projects across Scotland to the tune of £6.5 million. This is a significant injection of cash towards an area of work that supports vulnerable women, children and young people living with the trauma of domestic abuse and recognition that this is an area desperately in need of funding.
“What is particularly impressive is that the Big Lottery Fund took the time to speak with a large number of experts working in this area and tailored this new fund to ensure that it has the most impact. This has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of families living with domestic abuse across Scotland.”
SWA have also been awarded £367,109 to develop a nationwide CEDAR Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse Recovery project to work with families and women to help them move on from the emotional and social difficulties experienced as a consequence of domestic abuse.
Ms Coady continued: “We are delighted to have been awarded £367,109 for our National CEDAR projects. We have worked extremely hard with our partners to pilot and evaluated this successful and innovative coordinated community response towards domestic abuse. This new funding will allow us to support the roll-out of CEDAR across Scotland and we look forward to being able to support the delivery of a service to hundreds of women, children and young people that will aid their recovery and support them to rebuild their lives.”
Shakti Women’s Aid specialises in providing support to women and families from black minority ethnic (BME) women. They will use their grant of £549,740 to benefit BME women fleeing domestic abuse from across Scotland, some of whom have no recourse to public funds due to being in Scotland on spouse, dependent and highly skilled migrant visas. Girijamba Polubothu, Manager, Shakti Women’s Aid welcomed this new funding. She said:
“In our experience a significant number of women who are experiencing domestic abuse are not yet ready to leave the family home due to their cultural and religious beliefs; social and practical barriers; fear of not being believed and hope that things will get better. Therefore the main aim of the outreach service is to offer information, culturally sensitive emotional support as well as practical support to BME women experiencing domestic abuse to make informed choices suitable to their circumstances. Shakti will be working in partnership with local service providers to access appropriate support for BME women and their children.”
“The funding will allow Shakti Women’s Aid to provide support to BME women and their children who are experiencing and or fleeing domestic abuse. We will also be better able to promote an understanding of the gender based nature of violence against women. We’ll also be better placed to deal with requests for support in BME cases across Scotland. By providing the these services BME women will have the opportunity to make informed decisions about their future leading to safer and or independent lives.”
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Further Information
Big Lottery Fund Scotland Press Office: 0141 242 1458
Out of hours media contact: 07789 033457 or 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
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For public enquiries call 0300 1237110 or go to: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland
Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 46% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £26 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
- The Scotland Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007. As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.
- The Big Lottery Fund is investing in Scotland’s communities through its Investing in Communities portfolio as well as the small grants schemes Awards for All and 2014 Communities.