UK's biggest male rape charity has funding removed

The UK’s biggest male rape support charity has had its funding removed, despite a 120 per cent increase in men reporting instances of sexual violence in London and seeking help in the past year.

Survivors UK has launched a change.org petition calling on the Mayor’s office to reinstate its funding for counselling for the year after it was cut to zero, The Independent reports.

The charity says that after its funding for counselling was switched from being dispensed by the Ministry of Justice’s victims’ fund to being distributed by the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime last year, its funding has not been renewed. It was given £33,666 for a six month period by the Mayor’s office, but as of March 31 2015 the funding has stopped.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime told The Independent there had been “no cut in funding for services to support male victims of abuse. In fact, we are investing over £4.1million in specialist services for all victims of domestic and sexual violence by 2016. This includes male victims”.

“The Mayor welcomes additional funding from the Ministry of Justice for a number of organisations working with victims in London, including Survivors UK.”

But Michael May from Survivors UK told paper that the charity has “heard nothing” from the Mayor’s office despite constant appeals for information, adding that there has been “no indication” that its £70,000 per year will be reinstated.

A total of 307 men in London reported being raped to the Met police in 2014, an increase of 120 per cent since 2012, and 518 men reported experiencing a serious sexual assault, up 80 per cent over the same time period.

Survivors UK also provides the first national website and online support helpline service for male victims of sexual abuse, which has been launched with separate funding from the Ministry of Justice.

UK’s biggest male rape charity has funding removed

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