Bedford domestic abuse charity to become part of a county-wide partnership known as Luton All Women Centre

A charity that has supported 300 women in the past year and was facing financial struggles is to become part of a county-wide partnership.

Bedford Women’s Centre is to become part of a partnership that would see support delivered under the umbrella of Luton All Women Centre.

Charlotte Day, chief officer at Bedford Women’s Centre, told the Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Tuesday, November 29) that 300 women were helped by the charity in the last financial year.

“In the spring the charity announced that we will be having difficulty in funding our domestic abuse service and we were overwhelmed with support from past service users, survivors of abuse, their families and our partners across Bedfordshire.

“We also owe a big thank you to the nearly 600 members of the public who signed our petition and to those who raised £3,000.

“We’ve also had some other initiatives including small groups like Opus choir, Bedford girls school, Bedford Bunyan and we ran some fund-raising events ourselves.

“Thanks also to the cross-party support from Bedford Council, we were awarded an additional £6,000 which allowed us to maintain a partial service at the beginning of the financial year when we were struggling,” she said.

Ms Day said this funding gave the team at Family Groups, the charity that runs Bedford Women’s Centre time to look at other sources of funding.

“It was a hard year, and the team had given their all to keep things going, and keeping up the momentum of the fund-raising,” Ms Day said.

“So at this time when we are seeing an increase in needs for services it may seem strange to announce the 40th year of Family Groups will actually be our last.

“Bedford Women’s Centre is going to live on to support women in the community but in a new cross-county partnership that would see support delivered by us but under the umbrella of Luton All Women Centre.

“Caroline Cook, the ceo of the combined service will work with me (in a new role as head of service for Bedford) and the rest of my team to ensure that women who engage with us will see no significant change to their ability to engage with our services.

“In the longer term, we are hoping this partnership will enable us in the future to expand the range of services available to women in the area.

“To ensure that whether you’re in Luton or Leighton Buzzard, Bedford or Biggleswade, Potton or Poddington, you’ll be able to access exactly the same services.

“This change will not be plain sailing, I am sure, no change is.

“But bringing together two teams both as passionate as each other about serving and supporting the women of Bedfordshire can only give us a stronger and more sustainable service hopeful for the next 40 years,” she said.

Councillor Tim Caswell (LibDems, Goldington) asked if this merger was driven by finances or were there other strategic or operational reasons for the change.

“It’s not just about finances, it’s about the sustainability of the services,” Ms Day replied.

“It’s about being able to ensure that every woman we see gets a good and fair offer.”