Countywide Support Service for Young Victims and Witnesses of Crime

Commissioning a countywide support service for young victims and witnesses of crime.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is looking for a local organisation to provide emotional and practical support and advocacy for children and young people aged four to 18 (up to 25 with additional needs) who become victims and witnesses of crime. The service should be delivered in a way which meets the needs of the child or young person. This service is being commissioned to provide short to medium support, this is broadly described as a maximum of six weeks or six sessions, but should be considered flexible based upon the victim’s need.

The successful bidder will be required to:

• assess the needs of victims/witnesses referred to them and agree bespoke support plans which meet their needs to enable them where possible to cope and recover from the crime they have experienced;
• deliver emotional support in a trauma-informed way
• provide advice, guidance and signposting to parents/carers/guardians to enable them to be able to support the young person.
• where required, support victims to access (including self-refer) specialist services and advocate on their behalf;

Providers will be asked to deliver the service from their local organisation’s base within the county of Cambridgeshire/Peterborough. Staff will be expected to make regular visits to the Victim and Witness Hub (currently based at Copse Court in Peterborough) to foster collaborative working practices and attend/deliver joint training.

Referrals for support will come via the Victim and Witness Hub, Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA) or Independent Sexual Violence Advocate Service (ISVA) and self-referrals.

The provider must have a comprehensive working knowledge of the local partnership landscape including education safeguarding arrangements.

All service requirements will be detailed in a comprehensive Service Specification, which will be released with the Invitation to Tender in mid December. TUPE does not apply to this contract.

The intention is to award a 2 year contract with a further 3, 1 year extensions.

This contract is likely to be co-funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner and respective local authorities.

A Market Engagement Event is planned for 10.30am on 1 December 2025 and will be hosted at -

Cambridgeshire Police HQ

Huntingdon

Cambs

PE29 6NP

This engagement event is to provide an overview of the service requirements, commissioning intentions and timelines for the procurement.

Please email [email protected] to confirm attendance and if you would like the opportunity to book a 1-1 with the Commissioners.

If you are unable to attend in person, but are interested in this opportunity, please still get in touch and we will set up a Teams meeting.