MORE than £500,000 has been secured to support the victims and survivors of domestic abuse and to reduce reoffending across West Yorkshire.

Domestic Abuse Perpetrator programmes target those who commit domestic abuse and work with them to reduce the chance of reoffending, helping to protect victims and survivors.

A total of £550,225 has been granted to local councils, West Yorkshire Police, and charitable organisations working to reduce domestic abuse.

The money will support seven projects in the region, including the funding of an additional domestic abuse perpetrator worker in Leeds, 32 GPS location tags for offenders, and a perpetrator intervention programme for fathers in Kirklees.

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No schemes that specifically target the Bradford area have been given funding, although the area will benefit from some of the West Yorkshire wide schemes.

The new funding will also provide additional support to the West Yorkshire Perpetrator Cautioning and Relationship Abuse (CARA) service.

Commissioned by the Mayor and delivered by Restorative Solutions, partnered with the Hampton Trust, CARA provide workshops for first-time perpetrators of domestic abuse who receive conditional cautions from West Yorkshire Police.

The workshops hold offenders to account for their actions, enabling them to recognise the damaging effects of their behaviour and establish change.

The extra funding will help deal with the increased demand for the service including group workshops and remote one-to-one sessions.