More money needed to maintain Women’s Refuge services

Tuesday 06 April 2021

A local charity that supports victims of domestic abuse says it needs more money to avoid having to cut back on the work it does.

Last year, Jersey Women’s Refuge saw a 50% increase in calls to its helpline as well as a 26% increase in admissions to its safe house, forcing Marine Oliveira, the Refuge’s Manager, to temporarily open a second safe house with the help of the Government.

In total, the charity, which is the only independent domestic abuse charity in the island offering 24/7 support, outreach services, helpline and group work, supported 419 families, including 49 children.

Pictured: Last year, Jersey Women’s Refuge saw a 50% increase in calls to its helpline as well as a 26% increase in admissions to its safe house.

The increase in activity, Ms Oliveira explained, was partly driven by a better awareness of domestic abuse as well as the effects of the pandemic as evidence by the 50% increase of “one-off callers."

“It’s a demonstration of the pressure cooker effect the pandemic had,” Ms Oliveira said. “It caused an increase in tension within all relationships, including where there were no antecedents.

“When we talk about domestic abuse, we look at the dynamic of relationships, we can see a pattern of controlling behaviour from the very beginning. It starts with very small, it’s very insidious. For those families where there was no pattern, the support will be slightly different. It might be that they call and say ‘I need help, his mental health is going down, my mental health is going down’.” 

While 2020 was “an exceptionally busy year,” Ben Robins, the charity’s Chair, reminded that domestic abuse is not going away and with conversations about domestic abuse and violence against women opening up in recent weeks, it is expected more families will need support in the coming months.

The Refuge has had to recruit more staff to not only cope with the increased demand but also with the “additional burden of enhanced regulations”, pushing up its running costs which are now in excess of £500,000.

Pictured: The Government's grant only covers half of the Refuge's running costs.

Half of this is covered by a grant from the Government which, while it is vital to the survival of the charity, is insufficient to ensure its services can be sustained in the long term.

“This leaves us vulnerable and reliant also on the good will and generosity of the public and corporates in Jersey,” Ms Oliveira said. “In this challenging economic climate, it is very difficult to know what this year or next year fundraising efforts will achieve.”

“We start again every year to find a quarter of a million,” Mr Robins added. “Last year, fundraising was good.  I don’t like speaking in business terms, but we managed to break even. The awareness may have helped us in fundraising. We had a one-off donation from a trust arrangement. It was a six-figure sum, which was mind-blowing. It was transformative, it made the difference between being in deficit and not being in deficit.”

While the donation helped the Refuge’s team “sleep a night”, Mr Robins said it won’t continue forever and shared hopes of seeing the Government grant increase as it expects fundraising efforts to be more difficult this year and in the years ahead.

“We are constantly in dialogue with the Government, they are aware of our financial situation,” he said. “We could not survive without the States funding, but it would be helpful if that were to increase in the future, we recognise that the finances are not a bottomless pit.”

Pictured: If services are cut back, vulnerable women and children may not be able to access the essential help they need, Ms Oliveira said.

The Homelessness Strategy, which was published in January, highlighted the need for the Refuge’s funding to be reviewed, noting that “the current level of service could be put at risk because the funding model is not sufficiently robust”. 

If funding is not secured, services would have to be cut back, meaning vulnerable women and children may not be able to access the essential help they need, Ms Oliveira warned.

“Most of what we spend is on staff, we need more rather than fewer,” Mr Robins added. “We only see the need for staff increasing.” 

In addition, funding issues are impairing the Refuge’s ability to kickstart important projects such as improving its social media offering to reach out to the under 25’s - who make up 12% of referrals and are more likely to be subject to interpersonal violence - and refurbishing the safe house. 

“It’s a great property but it could be enhanced, it’s not a modern building,” Mr Robins said. "We are so lucky that it is provided by Andium, it’s great, they are helping in trying to find alternative premises. "Projects like that, to move from one property to another will mean pretty significant costs. We are going to try and turbo charge the normal fundraising to keep up with costs and to implement the project.”

While the charity has had to cancel its fundraising events, Mr Robins said that islanders can make donations to the Refuge’s JustGiving page. Meanwhile, Ms Oliveira reminded that nominations for the ‘Inspirational Woman of the Year’ - “a really positive event” - are open until 7 May.

“We are all incredibly thankful for the support we get,” Mr Robins added. “If people are able to provide funding to help us with our running costs, everything is gratefully received.”

CLICK HERE to donate to the Jersey Women's Refuge.