Brighton and Hove council withdraw funding from women's domestic violence serivice

Update from local campaign and planned protest brightonriseup.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/campaign-statement-24th-february-2021/

There's an existing thread about this here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4171571-Womens-refuge-that-is-trans-inclusive-loses-funding-because-service-to-women-focused-and-gay-men-not-catered-for

shame to duplicate

Ironically RISE pioneered an LGBT service way back when and has been involved in a pilot for a national LGBT refuge provision. Won national awards for innovation and has now been shat on from a great height for not being gender neutral. New service has no specialist workers, staff cut and no building to work from. The usual that happens- cheaper and fewer staff working from 'community settings' on laptops. Seen it time and again. Less is not more fgs.

RISE doubled provision in the city through fundraising, grants and trusts. Will carry on and rebuild but service users suffer. Stonewater got a bad rep locally as have Victim Support.

Jess Phillips seems to be taking an interest in this as well.
twitter.com/jessphillips/status/1364158886450782208

(Screenshotting on a laptop is not a life skill of mine, sorry)

Absolutely *Edge

Definitely highame.

There are local elections in the offing. I wonder if it isn't worth making a point. Much safer to vote for other parties in local elections and maybe Brighton & Hove are having sunlight directed at them and probably not before time.

I'm certainly going to be a lot more careful about who I vote for in the local elections and I will be looking at GC candidates and not at political parties

[quote Janie143]HunterHearstHelmsley as I said in my OP refuge has gone to Stonewater not Stonewall They provide temporary housing for LGBTQ+
www.stonewater.org/find-a-home/supported-housing/south/lgbtqplus-safe-space/[/quote]
Bloody hell it was a typo. I work for the organisation that has won part of the bid but you clearly already know it all.

My understanding of the situation is that all the services RISE were providing under that particular contract were tendered out so the services themselves haven't changed, only the provider of them (that doesn't mean btw that I think changing the provider is a good thing or that the council have gone about it in a good way)

looking at their accounts, they're already running a deficit which from a procurement point of view would definitely set off alarm bells though they do have reserves

I think there's definitely a wider issue here which is that small local women led organisations are going to find it really hard to compete for funding. Local authorities are strapped for cash and are likely to go for the cheapest service options they can as well as reducing grants available to the voluntary sector because they dont have the spare money

I believe the women only service will be continued but through a different provider i.e. Stonewater Housing

looking at the figures, the council was offering 5 million for a 7 year contract which RISE currently provides for 1.4 million. If that's true I'd say RISE were stuffed from the off - even a standstill figure would take them way over 5 million (7 x 1.4 million 9.8 million), to do it for 5 million would mean the charity subsidising the council's contract by a massive amount.

I also note that the procurement exercise was carried out by East Sussex Council not Brighton & Hove

I think there is going to be a lot more of this to come. Local authorities are financially screwed - they're going to put out contracts that only large profit making organisations who work at scale can afford to bid for.

Wrong kind of women and girls.

Two tier system has been created.

I note that the service that they are losing is the women only refuge. They're continuing with the LGBTQ service.

Yes, this shows the lack of regard the local government has for the needs of women and girls who have suffered male violence.

The reason given is that they weren't inclusive enough? It seems directed at them providing a women only refuge, in addition to helping LGBTQ?
I note that the service that they are losing is the women only refuge. They're continuing with the LGBTQ service.

That said, I do think charities need to be aware of the risks of becoming dependent on council grants.

This applies to all charities - I've seen charities close before because they have become used to council support and not engaged in fundraising. It's a risk.

(Not getting into a discussion as to whether a DV support service should be a charity, just making an observation based on previous experience).

I live in Brighton and yes it's true RISE have lost the funding. Absolutely disgraceful.

However, as Hunter points out, this is nothing to do with Stonewall and there is no funding for alternative mixed sex refuges that I'm aware of.

I looked at the Stonewater site. It was confusing.

If I were a woman looking to escape from a DV situation and get emergency shelter somewhere, I don't think I would identify Stonewater as a place that could help me.

And obviously an LGBTQ charity wouldn't be equipped to support me either.

RISE was clearly a provider of support for victims of DV, particularly females. I just don't know what B&H expect women to do. Perhaps Stonewater can help, but it really isn't obvious and DV doesn't appear to be Stonewater's focus.

Exactly PPNC - councillors hand wringing should have read their own processes more clearly!

It’s also been my experience that councils generally assume that the local charity will somehow carry on by replacing the list council money with grants from charitable trusts or other fundraising. It doesn’t occur to them they might actually just close

Please bring this out in AIBU.

Scanning the StoneWater website they offer housing to all different groups, just depending on what contract they have with what council, they aren’t trans dominated.

What they are is just a huge commercial money making property agency. This isn’t an anti female move, it’s a “capitalism and cash wins over local service with soul” move.

Though looking through their website the photos are white white white, and more white. Mainly male, all happy clappy. It’s a soulless business.

Having worked in this area a fair bit Janie I’d say it’s because the councillors don’t understand their own procurement processes. Generally councils have a standard procurement process which they use to buy everything from bin collection to new desks for the council offices to social care

It will generally be done using the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) process and will be weighted with so much % going to price and so much % to quality . Councils can choose which % they give most weight to including giving 100% to price ie cheapest if they choose. I suspect the weighting here will have been heavily in favour of price hence the loss for the local service. Housing associations are pretty notorious in the voluntary sector for going after local services run by local charities as a way of getting a foot in the door for other plans

Signed

Should we have a FWR designated charity?

I nominate RISE.

Petition here chng.it/SD6cbNbyLy