We are disappointed that the Council has taken a decision which firstly will reduce vital service provision supporting the delivery of the Domestic Abuse Act, particularly to provide housing support to under-served groups, and secondly that this will have a severe impact on the only specialist women’s domestic abuse service in the City.
RISE will lose a total of: £129,681 per full year representing over 12% of our total annual income:
- £5,000 Third Sector: Support for mothers, babies and young children
- £99,962 New Burdens: LGBT Dispersed Refuge and Therapeutic Wellbeing support for Women and Children
- £24,719 New Burdens: Changing Futures (Casework navigator for women with multiple complex needs including homelessness)
125k of these cuts are from ‘ringfenced’ central government dedicated funds for the provision of domestic abuse safe housing under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 – known as New Burdens.
RISE is facing an uncertain future, and residents face the loss of an important and highly valued service.
Demand for RISE’s services has not decreased over the last three years – last year 1300 survivors used our services and on average 12% of our clients are LGBT and 91% female.
We know that local people trust RISE because almost 50% of their quick contacts are directly from survivors and 20% of their formal referrals are self-referrals.
“Without RISE, I would be even more broken and so would my children, and likely their future children/future partners. Although the light at the end of the tunnel is still a long way away, at least there is light now. 2 years ago, there was none.” (Survivor)
What can you do?
- Contact your local MP Contact your MP - UK Parliament and ask them to support local funding for specialist providers like RISE.
- Contact your Councillor Your councillors and local politicians (brighton-hove.gov.uk) and ask them to reverse this decision.
- Ask a question or make a speech at the next Equalities, Community Safety and Human Rights Committee on Monday 25th March. You have until Midday on Tuesday 19th March.
Papers due out on 15th March 2024. See link:
Deadline for questions or deputations (speeches) is noon 4 days before the meeting –12 PM (Midday) on 19th of March 2024.
To ask questions and attend and make a speech contact Support officer: Thomas Bald, Democratic Services Officer for the B&HCC ECSHR Committee
Postal address:
Room 167, Hove Town Hall, Hove BN3 3BQ
Phone: 01273 291354
Email: [email protected] [email protected] ; [email protected]
Here’s some more guidance:
Ask a question or make a speech at a council meeting (brighton-hove.gov.uk)
Go to a full council or committee meeting (brighton-hove.gov.uk)
You can contact all the councillors on the committee to tell them what you think of the cuts to RISE services: Here’s a list of them here:
Contact RISE
Freedom from domestic abuse | RISE (riseuk.org.uk)
Call 01273 622 828.
To speak to someone in the Fundraising Team please email [email protected].
If you’re a journalist and wish to talk to someone about RISE news and case studies, or broader issues relating to domestic abuse covered by the press, please contact us at [email protected]
For anything else you can contact us at [email protected]
