Children's Services - Women's Aid Fund 2008-11
In 2006, the Children's Services - Women's Aid Fund was established and £6m invested (2006-08) to fund specialist workers offering direct support to children and young people experiencing domestic abuse, in addition to approximately £1.5 million per year invested by local authorities. This funding allocation was made in direct response to the Listen Louder campaign organised by Scottish Women's Aid, which gave children and young people experiencing domestic abuse the opportunity to tell Scottish Ministers what their needs were. Their priority was the need for dedicated children's workers. The children's services are mainly provided through the network of Women's Aid groups in Scotland and this funding ensures that each Women's Aid group has a minimum of 3 full time workers to offer refuge/follow on support and a specific worker to provide outreach support to children in the wider community. The overall aims of the Children's Services - Women's Aid Fund are to:
- Increase the access of children and young people to Women's Aid services
- Provide a wide range of specialist support services that meet the diverse needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse
- Ensure that Women's Aid services for children and young people meet recommended practice standards
- Ensure that children and young people are able to inform service developments and that they have opportunities to participate in the ongoing evaluation of services provided
- Work in partnership with other professionals and services.
In November 2007, the Scottish Government announced its intention to continue to fund this work over the next 3 years. Applications for the Children's Services - Women's Aid Fund (2008-2011) closed on 18 January 2008. The text and documents below only apply to those who have received a grant offer letter from the Violence Against Women Team for this financial year.
There are three different documents the Scottish Government ask you to complete in the course of one financial year. For example, in 2008-09, the following documents and when they should be submitted to the Violence Against Women Team are as follows:
1. Application for payment of grant form (Annex A) - to be submitted quarterly in April 08, July 08, October 08 and January 09.
2. Yearly progress report (Annex C) - to be submitted in April 09.
3. Breakdown of expenditure report (Annex D) - to be submitted annually in April 09.
Feedback has indicated that the previous application for payment of grant form was slightly complicated, therefore a new version has been developed in the hope of simplifying the process. At first glance, the new form may look confusing as it is not as clean looking as the word version, however, if this is the case, may I suggest that you print the form off and have a blank copy in front of you which may help you to complete the electronic version. The significant advantage of using this version is that formulae has been incorporated into the form so there is no need for you to calculate expenditure, underspend, etc - this will be done for you! Guidance to aid completion of the application for payment of grant is attached as Annex B, however, as always, if you have any problems, please do not hesitate to contact Karen Grieve at Karen.Grieve@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or on 0131 244 8233.
Unlike previous years, the Scottish Government have moved towards an annual progress report for the Children's Services - Women's Aid Fund. The Scottish Government, in conjunction with Scottish Women's Aid and Children's Services Planners, will revise the current CSWAF Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to reflect the Scottish Government/CoSLA Concordat and introduction of local Single Outcome Agreements. This form is currently being developed and will be available in the next few months.
However, in the interim, a form has been created for all projects to complete and send to the Violence Against Women Team to notify them of progress or significant developments in the organisation. This form should be completed as necesssary and forwarded to Karen Grieve at the address below.
A copy of each form, and the date of which this should be returned to the Violence Against Women Team can be found below:
Application for payment of grant (Annex A):
Quarter 1 (14 April 2008)
Quarter 2 (1 July 2008)
Quarter 3 (1 October 2008)
Quarter 4 (1 January 2009)
Progress report - to follow (Annex C, 13 April 2009)
Breakdown of expenditure report (Annex D, 13 April 2009).