Charity facing closure as council contract ends

A domestic abuse charity in Cheshire could close when its contract with a council comes to an end, staff said.

Cheshire Without Abuse (CWA), based in Crewe, helps people who are victims of domestic abuse and has been operating for 47 years.

But when its contract with Cheshire East Council ends in March, the authority said it would run abuse support services in-house.

One woman helped by the charity said people were in "flood of tears" when they heard it could close.

"It's heartbreaking. We need it to stay," she added.

All emergency support services for domestic abuse remained fully operational, councillor Carol Bulman said.

A formal notice had not been needed to end the charity's contract as it was on a fixed-term basis and it had come to the end of its schedule, she added.

The charity's chief executive, Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, said there was uncertainty about what would happen to their 600 current clients.

She said they have supported thousands of people over the years, finding them new places to live as well as providing recovery and therapy programmes.

Another woman supported by CWA said she had suffered from physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse.

"At the time I didn't even realise what I was in because it was so gradual," she said.

"I can't see how women could cope without CWA."

The council said they had launched a tender process but CWA had withdrawn from it.

The charity said what was on offer was not sufficient to continue its services.

Ms Lightburn-Ritchie said they received £390,000 from the authority in the past year and helped about 4,000 people in that time.

She added they were urgently fundraising to keep their Crewe safe centre open.

They have also started a new business to raise money but Ms Lightburn-Ritchie said they needed more time for it to cover the costs of the charity's core services.

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