Rishi Sunak Promises Extra £19 Million A Year For Domestic Violence Programmes
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Rishi Sunak has announced that the government will be giving an extra £19 million a year towards domestic violence programmes.
He gave the news as part of today’s Budget, March 3, announcement and acknowledged that there’s been a spike in domestic abuse in the wake of the country’s ‘stay at home’ order.
This year’s budget towards tackling domestic abuse has almost doubled compared to the 2020 Budget which saw Sunak pledge £10 million towards curbing it.
He described domestic abuse in the past 12 months to be one of the ‘hidden tragedies’ of the pandemic.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), police recorded 206,492 violence against the person offences flagged as domestic abuse-related between March and June 2020, a 9% increase compared with the same period in 2019.
During the announcement, Sunak said, ‘I am announcing today an extra £19 million, on top of the £125 million we announced at the Spending Review, for domestic violence programmes to reduce the risk of reoffending and to pilot a network of respite rooms to provide specialist support for vulnerable, homeless women.’
He added that ‘to recognise the sacrifices so many men and women have made in the armed forces community’, he’s providing an additional £10 million towards to support veterans with mental health needs.
Sunak made a number of announcements during this afternoon’s statement, including a 95% mortgage guarantee scheme for first-time housebuyers and grants of up to £18,000 for hospitality businesses and gyms as the UK eases out of lockdown restrictions.
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