Following an £85,000 grant from the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, the Male Survivors Partnership, a panel of representatives from leading male sexual violence charities, has been created.

The Male Survivors Partnership, founded by Survivors Manchester, Mankind UK, Safeline and Survivors UK, will be working in partnership with LimeCulture Community Interest Company (CIC), a leading national sexual violence training and development organisation, to develop quality standards for services for male survivors of sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation.

The two-year project, beginning May 2017 will see the development of new quality standards created and rolled out nationally across the UK. Crucially, the funding will also enable an accreditation process to sit along side the quality standards. This funding will be used to support up to 10 organisations to meet the quality standards and reach full accreditation by 2019.

Stephanie Reardon, Joint Chief Executive at Lime Culture said: “This is a really exciting step forward for support services working with males who have experienced sexual violence”.

“With this funding, we will be doing a comprehensive review of existing service standards from around the world, consulting with experts in the field and listening to the views of males who have accessed support about what works. This will result in an agreed framework for services supporting males that will be rolled out across the UK.

“For males who have experienced sexual violence these new standards and the accreditation process that goes with them, will give a layer of reassurance about the quality of the services they are accessing at a time when they are feeling most vulnerable. They will have the knowledge that they will receive a nationally approved level of care and support – something they haven’t previously had.”

For further information on the Male Survivors Partnership please visit www.malesurvivor.co.uk