Thurrock Council held up using £490,000 allocated to help victims-survivors of domestic abuse, according to an update on domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, given to the unitary authority’s scrutiny committee.
“There’s a lot of work we could do when we know there is a lot of people sleeping rough because of domestic violence and we are carrying forward £490,000,” the BBC quoted councillor Cathy Kent as saying at a committee meeting.
Assistant director of housing Ewelina Sorbjan said the funding is ring-fenced for safe accommodation, but she accepted it should have been spent better and a lot quicker. She added: “There is a lot more spend allocated for this year and has actually been spent and part of that is the cost of running a refuge.”
Thurrock Council has around £1.5bn of debt after borrowing money, mainly from other councils, largely to invest in financial bonds linked to solar energy farms.
