The Women’s Resource Centre will transfer its sexual assault hotline and response service to the Centre Against Abuse.

The charities said yesterday that they had revamped their services and programmes in response to community needs and cost-efficiency efforts.

WRC executive director Patrice Frith-Hayward said the move made “perfect sense”, adding that the agencies were often confused with one another, and clients were not sure which organisation to go to for which service.

CAA executive director Laurie Shiell said those clients would now have a “one-stop shop” to turn to when dealing with abuse.

A statement about the merger said: “For the past few years, a number of community leaders have been encouraging the WRC and CAA to eliminate a perceived duplication of service provided by two distinct crisis response services; for domestic violence, CAA, and sexual assault, WRC. After careful consideration of the community needs and the evolving goals of each of the not-for-profits, the boards and staff of both organisations have approved transferring the WRC sexual assault hotline and response service to CAA. At the same time that WRC has increasingly supported women facing challenges other than sexual abuse, it has become increasingly apparent that men are victims of sexual assault and need access to crisis response services.

“CAA already responds to men who have experienced domestic abuse and, by extension, is in a position to respond to both women and men who have been sexually assaulted.”

CAA suffered financial problems last summer, leading to the temporary closure of their safe house. CAA Chairwoman Lorna Dixon-Marable said: “We have had some assistance from Government and have a safe house we can provide for anyone in need.”

CAA will begin operating the hotline and response service on April 1.