Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) Early Engagement

The purpose of this notice is to:

(i) Inform the market of a prospective grant opportunity in connection with the procurement for the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF), currently funded by the Ministry of Justice under various grant agreements, totalling circa to £16m p.a;

and

(ii) give notice of the MoJ's intention to request feedback that may be relevant to the procurement strategy that may be adopted by the MoJ.

The Authority plans to hold a Supplier Event on Monday 21st of November 2022 between 10:30am-12:30pm.

Suppliers interested in attending the event should confirm their interest by 5pm on Monday 14th of November 2022 by sending an email to the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund team at [email protected].

The form of response should be limited to the provision of a single point of contact (full organisation name, contact name, job title, e-mail address and telephone number). The Authority will then issue invitations to all interested parties, confirming the timings and location of the events.

Additional information: I am really pleased to share details of the market engagement event for the upcoming recommissioning of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF). Supporting victims of rape and sexual abuse is a top priority for government. The End-to-End Rape Review Report published in June 2021 committed to making sure that victims have access to quality support, appropriate to their needs, when they need it and ensuring access to the right therapeutic and clinical support, and emotional and practical support. Recommissioning the RASASF is a key Rape Review commitment. Grants under the current fund, which has existed since 2011, are due to come to an end on 31 July 2023. Going forward we are aiming to allocate up to £16 million, per annum, to specialist rape and sexual abuse support services across 20 months from August 2023 - March 2025, with an option to extend subject to future spending reviews. The recommissioned RASASF will amalgamate the two current grant schemes (RASASF and Male Rape Support Fund) into one grant scheme. The fund will be open to specialist voluntary sector sexual violence services providing support across England and Wales. This excludes services in London, Hampshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Nottinghamshire, where this funding is devolved locally as part of the which has been extended until March 2025 Bids may be submitted by individual providers, consortia or partnerships, and joint bids are encouraged. The purpose of the funding is to provide holistic, trauma-informed, survivor-led support to all victims, in England and Wales, who have experienced rape or sexual abuse at any point in their lives, regardless of whether they report the crime to the police. This means providing support that is specifically tailored to meet the needs of all victims of rape and sexual abuse to help victims to cope, build resilience, and move forward with their lives from the impact of rape and sexual abuse. This includes support for victims of all ages (children, young people and adults) and any gender. Additionally, we are considering how best to design and offer 'organisational resilience' support to RASASF grantees; any funding would be open to charities with experience in supporting small (sexual violence) charities to build resilience in key areas. We will be seeking views on how to shape this offer from potential RASASF grantees and potential providers through this market engagement event. The supplier event will provide an opportunity for us to hear directly from organisations with an interest in bidding, which will help us shape how we compete this funding. The session will be managed as an online event, and will take place from 10:30am-12:30pm on Monday 21st November We plan to make use of breakout rooms during the event to gather extensive feedback and views on questions we have for the sector, to help shape the fund. If you wish to attend, please email [email protected].