Decision details

To approve the award of a grant for three years to Sheffield Rape Crisis for the provision of counselling to victims of sexual abuse and violence.

That the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care:-

1)    approves the payment of grant funding in the sum of £58,500 per year over three years to the Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (SRASAC) to provide counselling to people who have been victims of sexual abuse;

2)    approves Sheffield City Council entering into a grant agreement with Sheffield Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre; and

3)    to the extent not already delegated to them by the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation, delegates authority to the Director of Commissioning, Inclusion and Learning, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Commercial Services, to take any other decisions necessary in order to meet the aims and objectives set out in the report.

A sexual abuse counselling service is a clearly identified need in the city and supports extremely vulnerable people to recover from trauma and rebuild their lives in a positive way.

SRASAC are a vital component in the City’s wider response to sexual violence and abuse and, as a specialist service, awarding a tender to another service would fragment the current system and result in poorer outcomes for victims.

Awarding a grant rather than a contract does not allow for the same level of scrutiny of service provision and performance management, however, officers are confident that because of our strong working relationship with the provider they will share a similar level of detail regarding demand etc. that we receive now.

Alternative option 1 – Go out to tender for the service

Officers considered going out to tender for the service. This has been rejected because, if SRASAC are not successful and the Council’s funding goes to an alternative provider, there will undoubtedly be fragmentation of the current system; since SRASAC’s current funding from the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner means that they will continue to be present in Sheffield regardless.

SCC commissions SRASAC to provide support to 80 individuals per annum and contributes £58,500 to their funding.  However, as SRASAC also receives funding from other organisations, they are able to support many more people than SCC can afford to fund. The money available from SCC to commission this service would not be enough for this level and type of support service to survive without funding from alternative sources. SRASAC secure this additional funding due to their specialist expertise in this subject area.

Alternative option 2 – Direct award

Officers worked with Commercial Services to consider if there was a case for a direct award to mitigate the issues above. However, Commercial Services felt that awarding a grant would be the more appropriate course of action.