Funding available to local authorities in England and Wales to improve services to young women and girls suffering gang related harm or exploitation.

The Home Office is seeking to award grant funding of up to £2.74 million over a three-year period to local authorities (LAs) in the 20 police force areas that account for 80% of serious violence in England and Wales.

The purpose of the Young Women and Girls Fund (YWGF) is to improve services to young women and girls suffering gang related harm or exploitation, with a focus on understanding the specific and gendered risks that this poses. The YWGF will ensure women and girls are able to access the tailored, dedicated support they need.

To do this, the YWGF will fund specialist Young Women’s Workers (YWW) who will work directly with young women and girls who are risk of, or experiencing, gang exploitation.

Successful bidders will be required to:

• Maintain the dedicated role of a Young Women’s Worker
• Work with statutory and non-statutory services to identify women and girls affected by, or at risk of experiencing, gang related harm and exploitation
• Work directly with gang affected women and girls, providing them with support, guidance, access to services and signposting as needed. This should include through early intervention and prevention activity
• Increase professional awareness of gang related harm in young women and girls, including how to spot the signs and provide support.

Local authorities within the 20 Violence Reduction Unit areas will be eligible to apply for funding from the YWGF, in line with the Home Office’s geographically targeted approach to tackling serious violence.

Applications are welcome to apply alone as the local authority or in partnership with other local public and/or voluntary sector organisations.

Bidders will be able to apply for one worker per local authority area to work with women and girls who are experiencing gang related harm, receiving up to a maximum value of £43,000 (the cost of one worker) in years 2 and 3.

In year 1 (22/23), bidders will be eligible to receive up to £28,666. This is pro-rata to account for the shorter delivery timescales in year 1.

The deadline for applications is 13 Jun 2022 (10am).

 

How To Apply

Applicants must first register on the Home Office Jaggaer portal.

Once registered on the system applicants should email [email protected]. They will then be given access to relevant application documents on the eSourcing portal. Applications for the fund will be submitted via the eSourcing portal.

The deadline for applications is 13 Jun 2022 (10am).

More information can be found at the Bidstats website.