Interesting Fact
The first Victim Support scheme was set up in Bristol in 1974 and by 1986 every county in England and Wales had at least one Victim Support scheme.
Register as a charity in 1987 and set a free national helpline in 1998.
Responsibilities
VS offers free and confidential support to anyone affected by crime, not only those who experience it directly, but also their friends, family and any other people involved. It doesn’t matter when the crime took place.
The support offered is tailored to the needs of each person and includes:
- Information and advice
- Immediate emotional and practical help
- Longer term emotional and practical help
- Advocacy
- Peer support and group work
- Restorative justice
- Personal safety services
- Help in navigating the criminal justice system
Their teams of highly-trained staff and volunteers provide a wide range of specialist services that help people affected by all types of crime from burglary, hate crime, fraud and theft to domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation and terrorism.
They run the National Homicide service providing a dedicated, comprehensive wrap-around service and vital independent voice for those bereaved by murder and manslaughter in England and Wales.
They champion victims’ rights and issues locally and nationally, working closely with policymakers, commissioners, agencies in the criminal justice system, local government and other providers, partners and organisations. move
Key Roles in Response
Victim Support received a national grant from the Ministry of Justice to support victims of terrorism.
VS will become involved when there has been an incident of terrorism or a large scale (criminal) event requiring a humanitarian response.
VS’s role in the event of a major incident will be to provide humanitarian assistance to victims, witnesses, family, friends and local communities affected by the event. However, it does not involve the mobilisation of Humanitarian Assistance Centres.
VS will ensure:
- Specialist and dedicated support in relation to victim and witness needs, including provision or access to trauma first aid interventions and assessment of psychosocial and other mental health needs;
- Work collaboratively with the National Homicide Service and Victims of Terrorism Unit Virtual Caseworkers;
- In consultation with partners, including the British Red Cross, and where required provide staff and volunteer resource for the provision of onsite support at Humanitarian/Community Assistance Centres and undertake outreach activity in the affected area, if applicable and appropriate;
- Ensuring attendance at Humanitarian Assistance Steering Group Meetings in the affected area to ensure the VS Major Incident Single Point Of Contact is linked into local borough arrangements for the support of affected people;
- Engaging with police Family and Witness Liaison Teams to ensure people affected are pro-actively offered a referral into the service;
- Ensuring the Freephone VS National Supportline number is provided to key stakeholders in the affected area and promoted via social media channels;
- Ensure international visitors to England affected by the major incident are provided with support before returning home and ensure they are made aware of and linked into support services in their home country by contacting VS Europe to set this up and provide a handover;
- Ensuring Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (London) is provided with regular updates on the work being done to support the major incident recovery of the affected area;
- Working closely with the Government’s Victims of Terrorism Unit in terms of a co-ordinated response; and
- Undertaking any other work as deemed necessary to support local recovery arrangements in the affected area.
