Domestic abuse service brings judicial review against council after funding blow

A domestic abuse service in Bristol is to bring judicial review proceedings against the city council after its bid for funding was unsuccessful.

Next Link claimed that following a commissioning exercise the local authority had decided to fund a national organisation based in London with no presence in Bristol.

Carol Metters, chief executive of Next Link and Missing Link, said: “Our solicitors believe there were manifest errors in the council’s evaluation process resulting in an unfair and unequal bias towards the new provider. This was not a level playing field, and we want the city to re-run the commissioning process.”

Next Link said that if the decision stood it would no longer provide the city wide domestic abuse service. Its Southern and Northern offices and drop in surgeries would close.

Pommy Harmar, the service’s Senior Manager. said: “Because we have been working in Bristol for 16 years we bring major advantages for local families that a national charity, however good, cannot achieve for many years. Women know where to get help and they trust us.

“Many women come to us by word of mouth from other victims and would not have come forward for help without a locally based service to support them and their children. Yet we understand that the winning organsation is planning to have a central office as their only public face. This will mean many victims on the outskirts of the city will have to travel up to six miles to get to the central office and the cost will be prohibitive”.