Agenda item

An update to the Panel on the Horizon Victim Support Service.

Pam Gough - Policy & Community Area/Locality Lead, OPCC gave an update on Horizon, the Police-led victim and witness care unit.

The Horizon Victim and Witness Care unit was jointly funded by the PCC and Wiltshire Police.  Horizon supports the local delivery of the National Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (VCOP) which was updated in November 2015.

Points made by Pam Gough included:

·       Referrals into Horizon from May – October 2015 were 1053.  This equates to an average of 175 each month.  During the same time period there were 13,161 personal crimes recorded in Wiltshire.  This equates to 8% of personal crime referred to Horizon.  This is considerably lower than the estimated 25%-30% projection during the planning phase.

·       One of the reasons for the lower numbers is because it was decided that Horizon would not initially contact victims of domestic abuse because of the complex risk factors involved in those cases.  This has now been reviewed.

·       Team members have found that the majority of victims appreciate being contacted by the team and need no additional support beyond the first or a follow up ‘phone call. 

·       In the 6 month period, Horizon referred 186 victims to Victim Support, equating to approximately 5-8 referrals per week.  Victim Support can provide practical and emotional support to victims, and visit them at home if necessary.  Victim support staff sit within the Horizon unit on a rota basis to enable closer working relationships.

·       Horizon also works alongside officers to keep victims updated on the progress of their case, and can task neighbourhood policing teams to re-visit vulnerable victims.

·       Horizon coordinate victims and witnesses on approximately 850-900 court cases at all times. This involved between 9000-10000 non-civilian/civilian victims and witnesses.

·       Support for victims and witnesses was essential in helping individuals to cope with, and recover from the impact of crime, and in helping them to take part in criminal justice processes.

·       Horizon was currently funded by both the OPCC and Wiltshire Police. The Police Witness Care budget was retained within the unit.  Additional cost is met by the Police £100k and the OPCC £125k per year.

·       A workshop led by Business Improvement was held in December to identify the performance reports required to evidence what the team is achieving.

·       The process for referring victims of sexual offences to the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) has improved.    Prior to Horizon, not all sexual offence victims were informed and given the opportunity of support from the SARC.

·       Horizon now ensures every victim of any sexual offence was given the opportunity to be referred to the SARC.  This was one of the most significant impacts Horizon had made on the quality of service provided to victims.

Next Steps

·       Continue to provide the new Horizon staff with experience on the coordination and needs of court victims and witnesses, especially on large/complex cases, and align expertise with former WCU colleagues.

·       Report on the number of referrals from Horizon to SARC.  There appears to be peaks/troughs in cases.

·       Continue to research support services available to victims with specialised needs.

·       Continue to gather feedback from victims on their experience of support provided.

·       From January 2016 standard risk domestic abusevictims in Wiltshire are being contacted by Horizon.  A process had been designed in consultation with Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Police and the specialist DA support service SPLITZ.  Victims are contacted to raise awareness of support available and individuals can be referred to SPLITZ with their consent.  This process would be regularly reviewed and results shared with partners in Swindon.

·       We are currently reviewing support for victims of Fraud and working with the national Action Fraud team and local officers to see how Horizon can best support local victims.

·       Prior to April 2015 a high proportion of victims referred to victim support were victims of Burglary.  Burglary was not a crime included in the VCOP ‘enhanced services’ category.  We are reviewing whether all victims of burglary should be referred to Horizon.

·       It is recognised that some of the most vulnerable victims reporting to the Police are victims of anti-social behaviour.  Further work was required to understand how Horizon could support ASB victims.

·       We are reviewing how the Horizon unit will support the delivery of the STOP project in local community support for victims.

·       The Strategic Alliance with Avon and Somerset (ASC) was playing a key role in shaping the way in which the Force would operate in future.  ASC’s ‘Lighthouse’ is similar to Horizon and staff have met with their counterparts in Lighthouse to understand what work they do and join up on processes.

·   Review the imminent Niche upgrade and identify whether this improves the way in which the data could be analysed in relation to VCOP and Horizon performance.

·   Positive feedback had been received from users.

The Chairman thanked Pam Gough for her update.