Women’s Aid supporters made their voices heard and staged a symbolic handbag demonstration as they protested against North Lanarkshire Council’s removal of funding from the area’s three organisations.
More than 50 women took part in the event outside the authority’s Civic Centre headquarters, with hundreds more donating bags to show their support and representing what is often the only possession taken by those fleeing from domestic violence and seeking the help and refuge of Women’s Aid.
Campaigners are calling on councillors to reinstate the £350,000 funding lost to the organisation’s Monklands, Motherwell & District and North Lanarkshire branches after new provider Sacro instead won the council’s tender process for provision of domestic abuse services – and they say they will continue their fight into next year’s local government elections.
Event organiser Margaret Lynch, of the Support Women’s Aid North Lanarkshire campaign group, said: “We’re absolutely furious at the council’s decision to remove funding from women’s aid.
“Women’s Aid provide trusted services and have a huge amount of experience and professional understanding of domestic violence and trauma; the service is designed and run by women who have experienced domestic violence themselves and have that experience of leaving and and putting their lives back together.
“North Lanarkshire stands alone as the only council in Scotland which doesn’t fund Women’s Aid. We can’t believe they put these services out to tender as they didn’t have to, and it was designed in such a way that Women’s Aid couldn’t possibly win.
“It’s a cost-cutting exercise and it’s very hard to understand why they took the decision they did. Women aren’t turning up at Sacro looking for help, they’re still turning up at the doors of Women’s Aid, in increased numbers, as they want a trusted, women-only service.”
She added: “The display of handbags was the idea of one of the women in a refuge – for most women, it’s the sum total of what they have when they leave and run out of the door.
“The suggestion was to ask every woman who’s been helped by or supports Women’s Aid to donate a handbag if they couldn’t be here in person. We’re looking to sell them to raise funds for the three local groups.”
Support Women’s Aid North Lanarkshire say that the £350,000 provided under the previous model “paid for 12 workers to provide essential services” and that the “new service provides half of the counselling and support hours previously delivered”.
North Lanarkshire say the £1.4 million contract with Sacro is better value for money and will better help male victims of domestic violence, with the tender process having followed an independent review of domestic abuse support which “identified gaps in service provision”.
A statement from the local authority reads: “Approval was given to carry out a commercial tendering exercise to procure a specialist domestic abuse service that ensured compliance with statutory and legal obligations.
“Monitoring will take place to ensure that this does not diminish access to support for women as those primarily impacted by domestic abuse within our communities.
“The council will continue to ensure that domestic abuse services are available to those who need them and continue to work with local Women’s Aid groups for other services such as refuge provision.”
Coinciding with the authority’s quarterly virtual meeting, the two-hour protest included personal contributions from some of those who have been supported by the local women’s aid organisations.
Irene McMillan said: “Women’s Aid was there for me when I needed a safe place to go to – they saved my life. I and many other women were able to build new lives for ourselves because Women’s Aid restored our shattered self-confidence.”
The three local organisations are continuing to provide their range of services, including refuges and support for children, thanks to other sources of financial backing including recent Holyrood funding – but say the impact of the council decision has been “huge”.
Margaret Ann Jones, the service manager of Motherwell & District Women’s Aid, said: “The Scottish Government stepped in to replace some of the funding, but it doesn’t counter the full loss and means there’s no potential for growth.
“Between June and September, Sacro has had 50 to 70 referrals while the three Women’s Aid groups have had 421 self-referrals; women choose to come to us as they trust our proven grassroots service, and we’d like to see the funding reinstated under a different mechanism.”
Monklands Women’s Aid chief executive Sharon Aitchison said: “We’re specialists because women themselves have designed our integrated service over the years – we envelop their needs and have women’s, children’s and refuge services and signpost to others.
“This has been based on a report of gaps in statutory provision, but there’s overwhelming support for Women’s Aid and this was an unneccesary choice on the council’s behalf.
“We can’t thank the women here enough for what they’re doing, and it’s a disgrace they’ve had to take up arms in this way and organise this while still moving through their own trauma.”
Margaret Lynch, a founder of the Monklands group four decades ago, added: “We’re just women in the community who first found out about this when the decision was taken and decided to get together to do something about it, trying to pressure the council to change their minds and reinstate funding.
“They can’t take the contract away from Sacro, but this council has a massive budget and we hope councillors come to their senses and find a way of replenishing what’s been removed from the three women’s aid groups in North Lanarkshire.
“I predict we’ll need to do more as we’ve had meetings with councillors and it’s clear they’re not going to shift their position, but we’ll be making this an issue in the election next year.”
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