Extra cash to help Glasgow domestic abuse victims after charity closure

Glasgow East Women’s Aid closed down in March
-Credit: (Image: Google Maps)


Groups helping women and children who flee domestic abuse are set to get more council funding to plug a gap in support caused by the closure of a charity which faced bullying allegations.

Glasgow East Women’s Aid (GEWA) shut down earlier this year. The announcement followed an industrial dispute which saw staff vote to strike after whistleblowers, who made claims of bullying in the workplace, were suspended.

The charity’s liquidation has led to a gap in support services for women and children in the north east of the city, a survey found.

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Council officials are recommending that unallocated cash from the Glasgow Communities Fund is shared between two organisations: the Daisy Project and Glasgow Women’s Aid.

Councillors will consider the plan on Thursday, with more than £95,000 set to be given to Glasgow Women’s Aid and just over £62,500 expected to go to the Daisy Project.

It would be used to fund extra staff for both charities and could help around 375 women and children over 2024/25 and 2025/26.

GEWA, which was based in Easterhouse, had been awarded just over £140,000 in January 2023 to support women who had experienced domestic abuse and exploitation.

However, in September last year, council officials were told of “management and governance issues” at the charity. Funding to the organisation was suspended. In March this year, GEWA revealed it was closing permanently.

After the announcement, talks were held with funders and providers in the area over how to meet the gap in provision. A survey explored demand, challenges and unmet need.

Four organisations which are currently funded by the Communities Fund — the Daisy Project, Glasgow Women’s Aid, Aberlour and Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid — reported they operate waiting lists. Some said they’d had “increased contact from women in the north east of the city following the closure of GEWA”.

These groups deliver support, signposting, counselling, advocacy and refuse services for women and children living with or fleeing domestic abuse. Crisis support services and independent domestic abuse advocacy (IDAA) are seen as “an immediate area of unmet need”.

With the proposed extra funding, the Daisy Project would pay for a 21-hour per week IDAA worker and 30 hours per week sessional workers.

A council report states the charity would deliver an “IDAA outreach service in the north east sector, providing high quality, high impact support for women struggling to overcome immediate and long-term impact of domestic abuse”.

It is estimated the funding would help to support 10 women and five children in 2024/25 and 40 women and 20 children in 2025/2026.

Glasgow Women’s Aid would use the money to fund “one full-time children and young persons outreach worker and 1.5 women’s outreach/IDAA workers”.

Increasing the staff team would allow it to “engage with more women and children/young people referring from the north east sector”.

One-to-one support sessions and regular group work would be provided while service users would be allocated a worker to help them develop support plans.

The report adds: “Outreach workers will also provide programmes in schools within the north east to give teachers and other professionals an opportunity to make referrals.”

It is estimated between 120 and 160 women and 100 to 140 children could be supported over the two years.

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