Grants and Contracts
New Funding
The Commissioning Team is currently in the process of writing a bid for the Home Office DA Perpetrator Intervention Funding 2023-2025. The bid is for a force wide, all risk Perpetrator Programme, which will include the roll out of DRIVE into Shropshire and Telford. Procurement has begun to commission a suitable provider, the next stage being ‘provider presentations’ anticipated to reach a conclusion and award in Q4. As usual the tight funding window meant intensive partnership working over a 6-week period, with applications due to close 17th February 2023.
In partnership with the force, a bid was submitted in Nov 22 to the Home Office Homicide Fund with a pitch for a virtual reality education programme bolt-on to the already approved OPCC budget for the commissioning of a serious violence CYP knife related crime offering. Unfortunately, the bid was unsuccessful, but application to be retained in readiness for other opportunities.
A partnership bid to the NHSE was successful, with an award of £1.3 million over 2 years, working with the ICS Shropshire & Telford and ICS Herefordshire & Worcestershire. The bid is for a ‘Complex Care Pathfinder’ for victims of sexual violence that have complex needs. The pathfinder benefits enable tailored provision, triaging, case meetings, stabilisation and faster access, overall achieving better outcomes and service that puts the victims at the centre of their own recovery.
The Commissioning Team in partnership with Willowdene, submitted a bid for the MoJ Female Offender Fund in order to facilitate the expansion of services. The bid involved: launching a new Out Of Court Disposal (OOCD) option targeting women subject to Penalty Notice Disorders and/or Shoplifting Community Resolution Cautions. Hiring a OOCD Coordinator and Assessor to facilitate all aspects of the roll out of OOCDs with West Mercia Police. Providing, a Multi-skilled Interventions Tutor to deliver structured OOCD interventions. It will also provide a step-down residential placement for women released from prison to complement existing residential provision and provide a Parenting Counsellor to support MPACT delivery. Successful applications were expected to be announced during December 2022 but have since been delayed till March 2023.
Putting Victims and Survivors First
Sexual Violence
WMRSASC in partnership with AXIS are continuing to provide ISVA services across the region. There has been an increase of 56 referrals within Q3; this fits with a rise in police reporting. Work with the CPS and Police to improve outcomes for victims is continuing with the establishment of a Scrutiny Panel to discuss cases and reflect on opportunities for learning.
CSE
WMRSASC Branch CSE service received 60 referrals during Q3, this is an increase of 32 in comparison to Q2 referrals. This reflects the work that the Branch Team Lead has completed regarding recommendations to triage, follow up work, and assisting professionals to make referrals. Partner agencies in all counties continue to have staffing issues which impact on referrals being made into the Branch Project. Worcestershire referrals remain consistent, and Herefordshire has seen a slight increase in referrals. Noteworthy is that Branch can support those aged 18-25 with additional needs (ie: neurodiversity / a physical disability) if experiencing or at risk of sexual exploitation (providing the person is suitably assessed and not better placed with an ISVA for example) Awareness raising of this element of Branch support has been made via the Strategic Child Exploitation regional meetings for cascading and referral pathway information updated.
Purple Leaf (Early intervention and prevention CSE service) delivered 234 sessions across West Mercia (Telford exception) to 866 children and 12 professional awareness sessions to 318 people. Their recent drive to incorporate a parent’s session ahead of primary school delivery is beginning to take effect with 7 sessions delivered to 24 parents, the highest number in a quarter so far. The newly appointed 2 x FTE ‘Dual Experience’ workers from the uplift funding, are already at capacity and embedding successfully. Challenge arises from the 2 workers needing to cover 3 counties, they don’t reside in the area, and understandably travelling to northern parts of Shropshire / border of Wales significantly impacts; therefore managing the demand in Shropshire does generate some logistical disadvantages. Positively there is no waiting list currently for the dual experience 1:1 support, but from referral to first session the timeframe is around 30-90 days. This is as a result of the time it takes to gather the required information, risk assessment, liaison with agency, consent forms, and ensuring they are correctly pre-assessed for this pathway, it is a much longer delivery of support (20 sessions and includes parental / carer sessions wrapped around beginning and end) There is a small waiting list (x2 CYP) for the commissioned base contract Purple Leaf 1:1 usually around 30-60 days wait, again largely in part to the administration and assessment that’s required to start support and ensuring it’s the right pathway. A remarkable data observation about the engagement of all 1:1 support delivered so far is that no young person has dis-engaged after starting, an reflection perhaps of the support quality being delivered and the rapport established. In line with recent high-profile cases in the media the subject of toxic masculinity (Andrew Tate), gender roles and rape culture have been brought up regularly during school delivery, teachers have found in difficult to navigate the subject and have praised the support and expertise of Purple Leaf staff in handling this issue. Learning has arisen from CYP feedback that has requested when the targeted delivery is for a male group; their preference would be for a male facilitator especially when discussing toxic masculinity. Purple Leaf recognise this as advantageous and have tried to recruit broadly but remain unsuccessful with attracting other genders. Research suggests the gender pay gap / VCS organisational pay being part of a complex issue and perhaps being misconceived that as a feminist organisation they only recruit females. Purple Leaf consciously review how to improve as a progressive service.
NHS England Regional Paediatric Sexual Assault Service (SAS) the sexual assault health and forensic service supporting children and young people in the West Midlands has relocated to Darlaston now named ‘Willow Tree SARC’. As the previous site was in need of significant modernisation the move is an opportunity to provide a state-of-the-art service designed with children and young people in mind. The design of the site has also incorporated the new accreditation standards for SARCs. A collaboration between NHS England and the Police and Crime Commissioner’s of West Mercia, West Midlands, Warwickshire and Staffordshire and providers Mountain Healthcare; this facility will provide a bespoke service to CYP victims of sexual assault and offer a route for positive police outcomes.
Domestic Abuse
West Mercia Women’s Aid (WMWA)
IDVA service enters the third quarter of its new three-year contract. Demand for the service continues to grow year on year with 499 total referrals (hospital IDVA data included) in Q3 2022/23 compared to 484 during the same period last year. Timely contact – when a referral is received and allocated on the same day – remains the greatest priority. This target is consistently met with 93.35% of victims/survivors contacted within 48 hours. 94.70% of victims/survivors have been contacted within 72 hours with rationale behind those that haven’t. An increase in new staff has resulted in training needs identified and Q4 will be a suitable time to refresh and review staff training.
YPIDVAs have received a total of 33 referrals this quarter, compared to 26 in quarter 2. 17 young people have engaged in full support. WMWA report that most referrals are internal from the CYP Project, with some from schools and police. It is expected that these referrals will continue to increase throughout the duration of the contract.
National recruitment and retention challenges have been experienced by WMWA this past 12 months, resulting in less expenditure on both staff salaries and external professional training. Women’s Aid are predicting that this issue is likely to continue into 2023/2024 which is also linked to the unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. Women’s Aid have detailed that retaining staff has become an issue due to this challenge and are proposing a wage increase to their board for the next financial year.
West Mercia Women’s Aid Children and Young People’s project
West Mercia Women’s Aid Children and Young People’s project: the CYP project continues to receive a high number of referrals from both Herefordshire and Worcestershire in Q3, with 102 being received, which is an increase from the previous quarter. The increase is likely due to the return to school after the holidays. A Children and Young Person Manager has been recruited to lead this work and will start in early 2023 in order to provide strategic direction for the service to meet the growing demand.
Gaining commitment and engagement with some children and young people, especially those who are in their teenage years can be a challenge, but overall WMWA report good engagement levels for one to one and group support.
Additional resource from Women’s Aid has been required to keep up with demand for this service. This has been absorbed by WMWA, who will be seeking additional funding in 2023-2024.
DRIVE
Worcestershire and Herefordshire’s DRIVE contract has seen a total of 46 perpetrators worked with this quarter – 34 in Worcestershire and 12 in Herefordshire. New members of the team have settled in well which has meant an increase in referrals this quarter compared to last. Cases worked with have had 47 victims/survivors and 111 CYP associated with them. Of note, closed cases have reported a 67% reduction in high severity of physical abuse for Hereford compared to intake assessment of abuse type, with a 65% reduction being reported in Worcestershire.
For both DRIVE Worcestershire and Herefordshire, it has been identified that a fuller attendance is required at DAPP panels in order to gain full perspective about possible DRIVE cases. The Service Manager will be working with the DRIVE Fellow in order to encourage further agency involvement and will be conducting further networking activities to improve attendance. A concern has been raised by the Service Manager about vetting delay impacts; as evidenced by the delayed start of the recruited DASO. Unfortunately, the DAPP panel currently has no admin support which impacts on the Service Manager and DAPP panel in terms of reports and offender profiles being produced.
Victim Advice Line
The Victim Advice Line (VAL) referrals dropped again in Q3 to 3,452, a decrease of 6% compared to the same quarter last year. Of those referred 1,421 victims had their support needs met. The allocation waiting list as of 11.01.23 was 163, a result of new staff (2 x Victim Care Co-ordinator’s recruited Q2) needing to complete induction and training. This is expected to reduce further Q4. The appointment of Rik Klair within the VAL as the WMP Lead for Restorative Justice has seen work completed over Q3 reviewing how WMP extracts and improves the process of referring appropriate cases for RJ, with developments underway. Profiling data shows female’s aged 25-34 is the highest VAL user group, with females making up 62% of all VAL users. Ethnicity recording still shows high volume of ‘not stated’; of 1,421 resolved cases in Q3, 34.6% were not stated. Victim satisfaction remains between 97-98% for areas assessed.
Victim Support
Victim Support valid referrals dropped in Q3 with 350 valid referrals, a 14% reduction from the same quarter the previous year with a sustainment / increase of those self-referral to the service indicating their support is reaching the public. 15 restorative justice referrals were received in Q3, showing a notable increase from the Police/VAL, likely driven by the work of Rik Klair. VS are driving development of RJ can have for longer term cope and recover outcomes for victims and communities, by developing its use in cases of peer-on-peer abuse in education settings and in domestic abuse where a young person may have witnessed abuse. Emerging trend observed by VS in Q3 has been around the ‘violence without injury’ category as a large number of those cases relate to stalking and harassment where contact is indirect via social media or via family/friends. VS shared the victim’s voice via feedback captured that highlights the unique impact /barriers this generates for victims, one example showed where a perpetrator used many fake accounts to contact a victim ‘The Police said they can’t approach my ex because it’s just my word that it’s him. I know that it is, the messages he sends could only be him.’ The PCC are awaiting final costings for 23/24 last contract extension year (3+1+1) before the team undertake a full recommissioning process. The OPCC Victim Needs Assessment is scheduled for completion by May 2022. The MSHT worker has made progress integrating with the force in Q3 and has attended relevant partnership meetings to promote and raise role awareness.
Victim Support’s I am ME! Project
Victim Support’s I am ME! Project has been fully mobilised in Q3 as the recruiting a Hate Crime Training and Engagement Officer began integrating and mobilising delivery sessions across the region, with10 x training sessions to over 80 participants. 6 community engagement sessions were also undertaken reaching over 50 people. Finally, 19 x networking and promotional meetings have taken place with a variety of organisations including schools, local authorities, police departments and charities. Activity has exceeded the targets for Q3 with this trajectory looking set to continue into Q4. Due to the delay in recruiting to post, the role has been extended to the end of FY 23/24, via CSP funding. Noteworthy; The aforementioned activity has resulted in positive outcomes with all 53 community event attendees citing an increased awareness and confidence in reporting hate-related crimes and incidents. The I am ME! training materials all cover Restorative Justice as a form of redress, during Q3 there were three new RJ referrals that had a hate crime flag.
RoadPeace
RoadPeace have amended their Referral Form, used by Officers to refer victims to the service, which is now available on the Force Intranet. Information regarding the RoadPeace Project has also been improved on the West Mercia Intranet. As the new RVCC is now in post, they are planning to pilot a small number of in-depth telephone interviews with individuals engaging with the service. This will hopefully give more detailed information about how the services are impacting victims. RoadPeace have completed outreach work with the Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust, ending with a presentation to approximately 30 doctors and nurses from the Outpatients Department on 2nd November. The Department have subsequently contacted requested a further supply of leaflets to hand out to victims. A good relationship has been established with Midlands Air Ambulance, and it is hoped RoadPeace staff will be able to visit them at their RAF base.
Early Intervention and Prevention
The Children’s Society
CLIMB (Child Criminal Exploitation Diversionary service) received 78 (appropriate referrals) in Q3. The demand follows a spiky pattern, similar pattern to other CYP services, where referrals peak and trough according to school holiday months, with schools, early help and police being the highest referrers. Positively; Hereford saw their biggest increase in referral numbers to date, with Worcester remaining the highest demand area. Sports activity continues to be the most popular diversionary chosen route, with boxing evidently popular. Outcomes also evidence strong improvement in the area of improved attendance at school/college, with 41 reporting this as a positive change YTD. All diversionary activity remains tailored and CYP led. Challenges / emerging trend and issues have been detected by frontline practitioners connected to the cost-of-living crisis and the impact this is having upon families, with case studies highlighting the lengths parent’s are going to, to simply heat their homes. Naturally when finding diversionary activity for the CYP, sustainability always has to be borne in mind. Workers increasingly by default, have been needing to support the parents of the CYP and make signposting referrals around these issues. The PCC has been working with partners, hosting a series of working group discussions to discuss the contract extension year 23/24 and the removal of the age 10 limit and wrap around parental/carer support, and how this could be piloted, understanding how it would dovetail into existing provision. Various options and costings have been discussed with a formal proposal anticipated from TCS, with a target date for sign off by March 2023.
The Children’s Society Steer Clear Link Worker pilot project underwent setback when the 1:1 worker left and with only a few months remaining TCS struggled with recruitment, TCS, despite these challenges, have managed to find appropriately skilled staff via CLIMB and allocating additional hours to contracts, and have worked with 5 CYP’s to date. Whilst these figures are not on track with the KPI’s the issues have been understood and reflect a national recruitment landscape. Importantly the Steer Clear Manager has been working with partners to improve the system, ensuring system readiness and ironing out referral pathway issues for any recommissioning opportunity. Procurement has begun around the wider West Mercia Wide recommission with a budget approved and will progress in Q4 with closed conversations with 2 providers.
Men and Masculinities
The Men and Masculinities programme Herefordshire has seen an increase in referrals has meant the need for a second group starting in October. A second group starting in Worcestershire is now being explored as well. It has been identified that more networking activity is required in order to expand the programme further. However, this quarter has seen the biggest referral numbers since the service was commissioned, which proves that successful professional relationships have been embedded with agencies making the referrals. Training opportunities continue to be utilised to increase staff knowledge and awareness. 5 men have now successfully completed the programme this quarter with one man in particular highlighting the positive impact that Men and Masculinities had for him, in allowing him to be open about his behaviours in a safe space, but also enabling him to understand other people’s perspectives. It has been confirmed that Men and Masculinities has been extended for another quarter until June 30th, 2023.
The Richmond Fellowship
Deliver My Time in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin which is also a Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme for those assessed as low-medium risk. The service in Shropshire will cease March 31st due to the end of its contract with Shropshire Council being reached. Telford Council are currently re-commissioning their Perpetrator Programme within the service specification for the overarching DA Service.
The programme has been largely underutilised in both Shropshire and Telford, despite efforts to encourage referrals. The unmet provision for high-risk perpetrators has caused issues, as these referrals cannot safely engage in group work behaviour change interventions. Low referrals numbers continue to be an issue so further networking has been arranged.
Exploitation & Vulnerability Trainers
The PCC funded Exploitation & Vulnerability Trainers have reached 1,317 delegates in Q3, spanning over 45 organisations and have been awarded continuation funding for 23/24; evidently they are wide reaching, high impact (from the feedback received) and value for money for the reach/impact they have. Q3 has seen them delivering and supporting the night-time economy closely in the run up to Christmas 22. The transition to upgraded laptops and 365 has been long awaited by the trainers and will enable them to conduct their work much more effectively.
Building a More Secure West Mercia
Reduce Offending
Remember Veterans (RV)
Provide training to Probation updating them on the RV services available in the local area and updating relevant partners and internal services of the AFC Legislation & guidelines. They continue with their Criminal Justice project with the Midlands Armed Forces Covenant Fund, providing Criminal Justice mapping across the West Midlands. This will be a map of CJ Services that can be shared with all Partners.
Crimestoppers
During Q3, Crimestoppers ran a campaign for the World cup around domestic abuse. New material was produced in collaboration with East Midlands, West Midlands and Warwick which consisted of social media ready messaging videos and posters. The material was sent to doctors’ surgeries and violence reduction partnerships around the Midlands and including West Mercia, this has provided Crimestoppers with material they can use in future event related campaigns and will provide all who have received the material a legacy to re-use the domestic abuse messaging wherever necessary. For the forthcoming quarter Crimestoppers are going to develop a car crime and chop shop campaign, further develop the domestic abuse campaign to include the LGBTQ community and also run a further County Lines campaign based on the success of the last campaign. A total of 2,961 reports were disseminated to the police of which 86% resulted in a positive outcome.
Willowdene
Q3 report shows that the achievement of qualifications continues to be strong with women also consistently reporting improvement against all the self-evaluated criteria in relation to experience of relationships, substance misuse and domestic abuse.
Within the quarter, specialist probation staff for women’s work attended a training day at Willowdene. The criminal justice team from We Are With You made a site visit to WIllowdene and Cranstoun’s team leader also came to meet staff and see the facilities. The number of referrals and engaged users remains consistent but slightly below targets with 13 new referrals of which 11 engaged with the service. At the same time 13 previously engaged users exited the service.
DIVERT
Is an education programme that improves treatment pathways, diverts drug users from long-term drug use and reduces drug-related crime. There were 183 referrals within West Mercia this quarter, an increase from Q2. In total between the ages of 14 to 29 year olds made up 57.8% of total numbers in Q3. Referrals are lower than expected – work is being completed with the Force and Cranstoun to encourage engagement from Officers. Work is also being completed with the Force’s OOCD Working Group as changes are being made to OOCD’s in order to ensure that information around DIVERT is up to date and relevant. The OOCD team is now in the final stages of recruitment and new dedicated OOCD staff are undergoing final employment checks. The Criminal Justice Manager has also left the organisation, so recruitment is taking place for this role as well.
Road Safety
MORSE
Has been going through some changes since October. Their referral co-ordinator (RC) has now started in her new role, and they are in the process of implementing a new referrals process. All new MORSE referrals will be processed through our new referral pathway, most referrals will be accepted through the new YSS website referral function. The hope is that this will increase the visibility and accessibility of the service. The new YSS website launches on the 23rd January 2023. The nature of the referrals received continues to involve mostly substance misuse as well as service users experiencing complex circumstances and emotional needs. These circumstances tend to result in extended support periods. To manage this, MORSE have enlisted the services of multiple counsellors to support the emotional aspect of service user support plans. They currently have the benefit of two trainee counsellors, as well as a fully qualified holistic therapist. In December, MORSE attended a meeting with RoadPeace to discuss how the victim’s voice can be heard within the programme. It has been a challenge to make sure that this is respectfully included for both the victim and the service user. The focus of their work is around behaviour change but after meeting with RoadPeace, the importance of talking about victims and thinking about the wider impact of consequences as a result of service user decision making was highlighted.
Reassuring West Mercia
Fly-tipping
150 signs have been delivered to landowners across Herefordshire this quarter. The project has finished the procurement process and submitted a business plan for drones/CCTV. Landowners across the county continue to praise the initiative and report increased awareness and confidence in reporting fly-tipping.
Reforming West Mercia
Community Safety Partnership’s:
The five CSPs of West Mercia covering the 5 different Policing areas were awarded a combined total of £636,541 for 22/23. This is split by:
Shropshire CSP = £98,441 – they have currently allocated £50,200
Hereford CSP = £ 100,666 – they have currently allocated £93,700
Telford CSP = £158,934 – they have currently allocated £135, 640
South Worcester CSP = £139,250 – they have currently allocated £123,589
North Worcester CSP = £139,250 – they have currently allocated £139,250
The CSPs fund a wide variety of projects that focus on community support, reducing offending, victim care and early intervention and prevention.
Other Commissioning Activities
Needs Assessments
The PCC has funded additional analytical and engagement resource to carry out a 3 year programme of upcoming and essential needs assessments that will inform future commissioning. The first to be completed will be the Victim’s Needs Assessment, which contains a wide consultation and engagement exercise. Survey development is currently underway and anticipated to be published Jan 2023, with final completion and results due May 2023. The OPCC Serious Violence Needs Assessment will be conducted concurrently and also includes a wide consultation and engagement exercise to ensure the voices of the communities are represented and heard.
Forensic accreditation for the Telford SARC is underway. It would last for two years and meets ISO FORENSICS standard, however if unsuccesful all evidence captured at the SARC will not be admissible in court. Design and concept survey for a rebuild/refurbished SARC in Telford is ongoing.
Summary of 2022-23 PCC Funding Initiatives
Please follow the link below to obtain more information about all of the OPCC funded projects during 2022-23:
