An extra £500,000 has been awarded to help survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse in Essex.

The funding has been awarded from the Ministry of Justice to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.

It will be used to fund four and a half full-time Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and 11 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors for a year. It has been indicated that the funding will be granted again for a further 12 months.

The advisors will be employed by Synergy Essex, Changing Pathways, Next Chapter and Victim Support and will work across the whole county.

Some of the posts will focus specifically on supporting children and young people, those with complex needs and the LGBT+ community.

Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “Protecting those most vulnerable from harm and breaking the cycle of domestic abuse is so important. This money will make a huge difference to the services and support that we provide in Essex.

“We work hard across the county with our partner agencies to encourage survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence to come forward. Investing in specialist support services like these will help survivors to move on and bring offenders to justice.”

In May 2020, Essex received £717,273 of a £28million Ministry of Justice fund to help services in the county stay open throughout the pandemic — that funding ran out in March this year.