CIF Funding Enables SafeNet to Help Even More Families in Refuge

10 September 2019

UCLan works with Construction Impact Framework to support project

SafeNet Domestic Abuse and Support Services have been awarded more than £10,000 to recruit a part-time crèche support worker at their Preston Refuge.

Awarded by Construction Impact Framework (CIF) through a fund generated from its work with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), the grant will enable the existing SafeNet Specialist Children and Young People’s Worker to carry out even more group work with families who are dealing with domestic abuse and provide crucial support to mothers and children, helping to create a safer, healthier, and happier future for them.

In 2018, the Preston Refuge supported 86 adults and 67 children from a range of cultures and backgrounds who have experienced domestic abuse, offering safe accommodation alongside individually designed support plans, personal support sessions, group work interventions, counselling, resident’s support groups, advocacy and other services.

CIF is an award-winning Official Journal European Union (OJEU) compliant construction framework with a focus on social value and an ethical way of working whilst relieving the pressure on frontline public sector services.

"Our work with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is a great example of how CIF’s strategy of re-investing public money impacts on the lives of those who need support at their most vulnerable."

To drive social value through public procurement the CIF require that any contracts that are awarded via one of their frameworks include a percentage fee, paid by the successful supplier, which is fed into a fund to be used for a social value initiative; in this case SafeNet.

Alex Atkinson, Head of Support Services at SafeNet, said: “This additional funding enables our Children & Families team to offer vital support needed in refuge for our children and young people. This means we can offer quality childcare which is tailored and sensitive to children’s needs arising from living in domestic abuse. We can then ensure parents have access to more in depth support via 1 to 1 sessions, group work and essential appointments. This further enables our team to fully support families through their recovery journey.”

Sara Lawton, Managing Director of CIF, said: “Our work with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is a great example of how CIF’s strategy of re-investing public money impacts on the lives of those who need support at their most vulnerable. By choosing to ‘buy social’ UCLan is making a huge difference not only to SafeNet residents and their children but to their public-sector partners who deliver frontline domestic violence services, for us this is public procurement at its best.”

A UCLan spokesperson said: “SafeNet already has a link with the University by supporting student placements in local refuges, so this project is an ideal fit for us. It has been great to see the impact that UCLan can make through the power of social procurement using the CIF. We are delighted that the profits gained from using the framework have gone to such a worthwhile cause that will make a tremendous difference to people’s lives.”