Sexual violence charity juggles cuts and high demand

A charity which supports women and children who have suffered sexual violence has said it is struggling to meet demand, due to a budget shortfall of £100,000.

RASA Merseyside (Rape and Sexual Abuse Support) claims it has had to cut staff with costs increasing due to the recent rise in National Insurance (NI) - while government funding has not risen since 2019.

Anna, who was referred to the service last year, said she is worried that other women and children will suffer if RASA is not able to provide the valuable support she received.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government is "working to deliver our unprecedented manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade".

RASA is designed to be a single point of contact for anyone who is reporting, or thinking of reporting, a crime of a sexual nature to the police.

The charity's independent sexual violence advisers (ISVA) support victims throughout the duration of their criminal justice process.

About 2,700 referrals were made to them last year, according to the service.

Anna said when she called RASA regarding the sexual abuse she had experienced they offered her immediate - and vital - support.

She said the charity understood how serious the situation was, and within a day she was contacted by police.

"Without RASA it would have been really difficult to know what direction to go myself," she said.

The man who abused Anna was found not guilty following a trial, but RASA continued to help her even after the case concluded.

"I feel like I wouldn't have survived without RASA. I wouldn't have been able to cope on my own.

"If I didn't have that support, I would have felt completely lost".

The service has had to cut one of its ISVA posts and is also due to lose a children's support worker because of a lack of funding.

The charity said it is receiving the same amount of government funding as it was five years ago which, in real terms, is about a 10% cut - and a deficit of £100,000.

ISVA manager, Becca Beresford, said reducing the team from six to five has placed immense pressure on those remaining, who each have a caseload of between 60-80 people at a time.

"The demand is huge. and increasing year after year," Ms Beresford said.

"The team have a lot higher caseloads than they had previously, so the demand that puts on them, as workers and as individuals, has been really difficult for them."

She said the service now has a waiting list for the first time, and she is concerned that fewer women will pursue prosecution because the support is not available.

"They may disengage with the criminal justice system entirely, which would lead to potential perpetrators not being held to account," she said.

"Our service needs to be recognised for the specialist work that we do.

"We need to be seen as a vital service that someone should be entitled to, rather than an option that people may not even know about."

Lorraine Wood, Operations Manager at RASA Merseyside, is urging the public to stand with them in supporting survivors "when they need it the most".

She said: "Sexual violence is a harsh reality that knows no boundaries: no age, no race, no economic status.

"The statistics are sobering: one in three women, one in eight men, and one in six children (before the age of 16) will experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

"Yet far too many cases go unreported, unaddressed, and unresolved.

"But these are not just numbers. They are lives. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sons, and friends.

"Their pain extends far beyond the immediate act of violence, rippling through families, communities, and generations."

RASA took to the streets of Liverpool last month as part of the UK's Women's march and to help raise awareness of the funding crisis.

The increase in National Insurance means RASA has had to find an extra £33,000 on top of their current deficit.

A HM Treasury spokesperson said: "We support our charities through a world-leading tax regime which provided £6bn in relief for the sector last year alone, including exemptions from paying business rates.

"This comes on top of doubling the Employment Allowance to protect the smallest charities, and creating a new Civil Society Covenant to usher in a new era of trust and partnership to tackle some of the country's biggest challenges."

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