Funding and commissioning child sexual abuse services
To help understand where and how to address gaps in child sexual abuse support services, these guides explain why these services are so important, and how to fund and commission them well.
Timely, effective support for children, families and adults can play a crucial role in mitigating the impacts of child sexual abuse, and can help prevent or disrupt abuse.
There is a clear need for services in every area of England and Wales to provide this support, and commissioning them requires careful, thoughtful funding and planning. Yet current levels of provision fail to meet the needs of victims and survivors. This represents an urgent strategic challenge for funders and commissioners.
The Funding and commissioning child sexual abuse services guide is designed to build understanding of where and how to address these gaps in provision. In four parts, the resource signposts each stage of the commissioning cycle: analysing local need for support, planning targeted interventions, delivering effective support services, and rigorously reviewing outcomes.
It is designed for funders and commissioners across a wide range of local, regional and national arrangements, including Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, NHS England and Wales and Integrated Care Boards, the guide offers a structured approach to developing and improving support provision.
Funding and commissioning child sexual abuse services
Download the English and Welsh version of the guide below, as well as the Child sexual abuse support matrix – a tool to help map service provision against need. Read the guide to learn more.
Guides for funders and commissioners of specific support services
We have developed two new guides have been developed to give funders and commissioners of specialist support services clear, research–grounded guidance on what comprehensive, holistic support should look like for adult survivors of child sexual abuse, and for parents and carers of sexually abused children.
These evidence-based guides provide practical tools to map current provision and identify local gaps, including an audit tool that helps funders understand what services exist and where unmet need is greatest. This supports more strategic commissioning and helps to avoid fragmented provision.
Each tailored guide help funders and commissioners think through what it truly means to resource these services, bringing clarity about why child sexual abuse support often requires longer-term, flexible, and responsive to trauma, individual life circumstances, and wider systemic barriers.
The guides are also valuable for support services themselves, strengthening their ability to articulate need, demonstrate intended impact, and advocate for sustainable funding, ultimately helping to create more consistent, joined up and stable provision. Download, read and use both guides below.
