Victim Care Hub

Description

The Victim Care Hub will be an all-age support provision with a comprehensive network of services encompassing a referral mechanism and onward support for victims of crime. Lot 1: The Service Provider will be one of the first points of contact with an on-going response and information service, providing non-specialist and specialist support, working alongside Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and specialist commissioned support services within Constabulary accommodation. The Victim Care Hub will be one single service but located within 4 police buildings aligned to the Force Area Model, with Service Provider staff and police staff working together alongside the Criminal Justice Witness Care Units to provide support which will include case information and updates, Special Measures applications and Victim Personal Statements. A voluntary sector and police partnership provides the opportunity for hybrid collaborative working to ensure fewer gaps or transition points between them, improving the victim experience of the Criminal Justice System, potentially benefitting wider criminal justice outcomes and improving the pathway of referral to specialist support services. The Victim Care Hub will be delivered using a trauma informed approach. The Victim Care Hub will have multi-crime and specialist caseworkers and play therapist(s) for supporting children whose support need is often far more complex, due to their age. The Victim Care Hub can provide a widely accessible single point of contact for the emotional and practical support of victims, with the capability to provide low-level mental health and emotional wellbeing support to those who require it, as a consequence of being a victim or impacted by crime. The Victim Care Hub will provide an enhanced service for victims, through simplified and quicker access to specialist knowledge, care and support, enhancing the services provided by the commissioned support services, providing procedural and general police updates, potentially improving victim satisfaction and outcomes. The Police and Crime Commissioner is implementing the Police Victim Care Hub Officer role within the Victim Care Hub. This new police role will link and align support and information provision for victims of crime, providing an effective link between the Service Provider and the support they provide to victims, Investigating Officers, other police personnel and criminal justice partners. Providing updates on police and procedural matters will ensure victims stay informed, while an investigating officer will retain the role of investigation updates to maintain the relationship, consistency and duty of care. The Victim Management Contact module is now used by the police and needs assessments are undertaken for every report of (victim-based) crime. This will be reviewed as part of the Victim Care Hub contract, to understand its use and ascertain if it can be used to accompany the victim on their journey through the criminal justice process and support provision. The Police and Crime Commissioner funds a number of specialist support services and a representative from relevant commissioned specialist support services will be invited to have a presence within the Victim Care Hub location(s) to work in partnership with the Service Provider and police, ensuring a support provision for victims.