Moray Women’s Aid set to lose out on COVID-19 support cash
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MORAY Women's Aid stands to lose out on a share of Scottish Government support cash because it is not affiliated to the national body.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an extra £1.5 million COVID-19 support package on March 31 for Scottish Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland to help victims of domestic abuse and rape.
However, Moray Women’s Aid, which supported nearly 600 women and more than 100 children last year, now looks likely to lose out on this funding because it is not affiliated to Scottish Women’s Aid.
Elle Johnston, manager at Moray Women’s Aid, said: "I was both dismayed and upset when I learned that Moray Women’s Aid was not to receive a penny of this funding because we were not affiliated to the national body.
"Unfortunately, we are not the only organisation to have found ourselves in this position. Dumfriesshire and Stewartry Women’s Aid and Committed to Ending Abuse in Falkirk are also in the same position.
"Our victims of domestic abuse here in Moray deserve the best support available and we would find it difficult to provide services to meet the anticipated increase on demand of our service due to COVID-19.
"We believe that this is an unfortunate oversight on the part of the Scottish Government who had no intent to discriminate against the organisations who are not affiliated with Scottish Women’s Aid. We would request that the Scottish Government rectify this oversight."
Although it hasn't yet seen a rise in referrals, the service expects to be busier than ever once lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Moray Conservative MP Douglas Ross said: "It is absolutely unacceptable that Moray Women’s Aid could find themselves unable to access this crucial funding.
"Every woman and child who are the victims of domestic abuse, wherever there are located, deserves the very best support we can give them and that support should never be based on your postcode.
"Moray Women’s Aid do incredible work in the most challenging of circumstances and last year alone they supported over 600 women and more than 100 children who were the victims of domestic abuse. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that the number of domestic abuse incidents have increased across the country.
"For the Scottish Government to say that domestic abuse victims in Moray cannot benefit from funding available in other parts of Scotland is simply not on.
"I hope this has simply been an error and I’ve written to the Scottish Government urging them to review this decision and deliver funding parity during COVID-19 to organisations such as Moray Women’s Aid."
The Moray team, based at Elgin's Marleon House, announced at the end of April they had successfully secured a £239,706 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to develop a community outreach and therapeutic service.
