More funding needed to meet rise in demand, says West Mercia sexual violence support service
West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (WMRSASC) say they had over 3,700 referrals last year
More funding and support is needed to cope with the rise in referrals and secure the future of places like themselves, says a West Mercia specialist sexual violence support service.
West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (WMRSASC) was set-up within Worcestershire in 1986 as a telephone support service for women only.
Since then it's expanded its services to include areas such as counselling and in 2011 started covering Herefordshire.
It now also includes support for men, children and young people from 5+ and in 2019 its services became established in Shropshire.
Chief executive Jocelyn Anderson says its numbers continue to rise.
She said: "Last year we had over 3,700 new referrals and at the moment we have got over 800 people waiting for counselling support and round about 120 of those are children and young people.
"I've been working in the centre for over 20 years now and you take it back to 2004 when I started and we had like 4 referrals in one month.
"3,700 referrals a year is a huge difference, so we've increased the number of people that we support from where we started off as a centre for women only over the age of 16 and have gradually grown the service."
In March, a report by Rape Crisis England and Wales revealed nearly 4 in 5 Rape Crisis centres were expecting a loss or reduction to services due to underfunding.
The data also showed over half (59%) of Rape Crisis centre managers and directors are expecting a reduction in their core funding.
"I've been doing this for a long time and I cannot remember a time where it has been so precarious," Jocelyn said.
"Three rape crisis centres have closed in the last 12 months and over half the centres that we regularly network with are expecting to cut counselling services at a time where waiting lists lists are growing.
"There are rising direct costs, which I appreciate everybody else is facing as well, but the sexual violence sector pretty much lives hand to mouth at the best of times and funding is becoming harder."
In response, a Government spokesperson said: “We remain resolute in our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade and are committed to supporting victims of crime.
“We have maintained 2024-25 funding levels for ringfenced sexual violence and domestic abuse support this year, including the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund for specialist services.”