Devon violence charities in funds talks

Devon's domestic abuse charities are discussing future funding with the county council.

Last year Devon County Council reduced grants by 42%, leading to fears abuse charities would fold.

Devon Domestic Violence and Abuse Service, SAFE domestic violence project and North Devon Women's Aid stayed afloat after joining together.

The consortium arranged funding from central government which made up for funding cuts.

Now the groups fear their funding could be cut further as the council faces cuts of £135m to £150m in central government funding over four years.

Christine McKenna, from the Domestic Violence and Abuse Service, said: "We are back to where we were when we started.

"But this year we have started discussions with Devon County Council early.

"We work a lot with people who are at risk of harm or death and if services have to give up it would raise the risk of people being significantly hurt or killed."