This piece of research was carried out by WestPoint, looking at the victim care work delivered through SSC’s Victim Empowerment Model, or Victim Care Delivery. This is part of a delivery agreement with the Devon and Cornwall Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).
The review gives extensive details of the types of clients supported by Victim Care Delivery, identifies core strengths in the programme, and gives a view of the needs of the scheme in the future. Compiled through case file analysis, stakeholder interviews, and observation of meetings, this research was published in March 2016.
Clients
A total of 123 clients were analysed to provide quantitative data; 49 active cases, 74 closed.
The following relates to those 123 victims of crime:
The majority of victims were 26-35 or 51-64.
(c) Westpoint resources
Almost a third lived in South and East Cornwall, (covering the area from Saltash down past St Austell, and including Liskeard, and Lostwithiel). 27% lived in the Coast to Coast region (encompassing both coasts and taking in Falmouth, Truro, Camborne and Redruth). 23% lived in Atlantic and Moor region, (North Cornwall, taking in Bude, Callington, Bodmin and Newquay). Almost 14% lived in West Cornwall (Penzance, St Ives, Helston, up almost to Camborne). The remaining 3.3% lived on the Scillies.
(c) Westpoint resources
The crimes that these victims had experienced were varied (though this graphic only shows the primary victimisation of the clients in each case):
(c) Westpoint resources
Many of the Violence offences were Domestic Abuse, either by the partner of the victim, or some other family member. ‘Other’ includes domestic abuse, fraud, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and harassment.
The needs of each client were established, which ranged through empowerment and self-esteem (87%) general health and wellbeing (81%) to housing support, education, employment and skills, and, drugs and alcohol. 39 out of 123 clients identified four of those needs as pertinent to their circumstances, with 26 identifying three needs. This demonstrates the complex nature of victimisation, and emphasises the need for specialist, multi-faceted support.
(c) Westpoint resources
Core Strengths of Victim Care Delivery
- The range of specialist victim care that can be accessed through the VCD and its capacity to offer holistic interventions for clients with complex needs.
- The VCD’s central coordinating role and rigorous delivery and governance frameworks are perceived as an ‘added value benefit’ by both current and prospective funding commissioners.
- The VCD retains a genuine multi-agency, victim-centred approach to victim work that is embraced by SSC partners.
Looking Forward
The concluding part of the report contained challenges and discussion points for the future of Victim Care Delivery. The complex needs of victims – combined with the requirement to balance that with the cost of delivering support to them, were acknowledged, as well as the potential risk to workers entering situations with insufficient information. A discussion has begun regarding the aims and future role of Victim Care Delivery, and how it should get there.