MORE than 3000 domestic abuse victims will lose their specialist support next year unless £1 million can be found for the main support service.

Assist, the expert advocacy and support service for victims of domestic abuse, has warned that from March 2014 onwards it only has enough funding to cover Glasgow.

The revelation comes after ­Scotland's chief constable called for a radical shift in the way domestic abuse is handled, with perpetrators dealt with outside court and a change in the Government's approach to the problem.

The Herald reported yesterday that Sir Stephen House has suggested perpetrators go on courses to change their behaviour rather than all being sent to court. Sir Stephen has made tackling domestic abuse a key priority for the new national force.

He also called for greater ­funding to be made available to domestic abuse partners such as Assist and Sacro.

Between April and August this year Assist supported 3174 women and 155 men across the west of Scotland.

Mhairi McGowan, head of service at Assist, said: "In the first part of this year - up to August - 47% of Assist's clients were no longer experiencing any abuse at all. Some 89% were not experiencing any physical abuse.

"This is women who were being abused daily. It is really significant especially when you think of the complexity of the issues.

"As of March next year we only have funding for Glasgow - not for any of the other surrounding areas. That includes Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and ­Inverclyde. We are in discussions about how and where to source further funding as we have a shortfall of about £1m.

"The issue at the moment is that we are busy setting up MARACs [Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences] for the most high-risk clients."

There were 60,080 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by Scottish police in 2012-13, compared to 59,847 incidents in 2011-12. Half of all the incidents led to the ­recording of an actual crime or offence.

Ms McGowan added: "We carry out specialised risk assessments and ensure that every victim has a safety plan. For those victims at very high risk of further harm we ensure each of them has a named worker. It means we can help with prosecutions. Without Assist the procurator-fiscal would not get the clients' views on specialist bail conditions and non-harassment orders. Because we are putting the appropriate information to sheriffs it saves the clients and legal aid board money in relation to non-harassment orders.

"At the same time as the outrage about the Bill Walker case, we have major delays in the domestic abuse court in Glasgow and problems with funding." Walker was jailed for 12 months after being found guilty of ­attacking three former wives and a step-daughter between 1967 and 1995.

The Scottish Government said it had increased funding for projects tackling violence against women by 60% since 2007.

It said it had "a cross-government approach to effecting lasting change".