New Local Focus for Domestic Abuse Support

January 31, 2017 by Southend Borough Council

A new domestic abuse services contract that will see the development of new prevention and awareness programmes and provide tailored emergency and crisis help to local people starts tomorrow (1st February 2017).

SOS Domestic Abuse Projects (SOSDAP), who currently provide the council’s families and children domestic abuse service, have been awarded the three year contract.

The council is investing an extra £20,000 into the new tailored service which will allow more people to access domestic abuse support, by improving support available for male victims, victims with older male children, older victims and those wishing to remain at home, victims with complex needs and for single women under 35 years old (see full details of service improvements in notes to editors).

Flexible group accommodation as well as individual dispersed units will still be provided for high risk families or adults where remaining in the family home would pose a high risk. The service will be more community based and modelled to meet local needs. The current 22 bed refuge will close and allow money that is currently being spent supporting victims from other areas to pay for the new local services and added investment.

At the current time the refuge is rarely used by local Southend-on-Sea residents, but is paid for by the council, and accounts for the majority of our domestic abuse services budget.

Cllr Lesley Salter, Executive Councillor for Adult Social Care, says: “I am very pleased that we have identified extra money for this vital area of work, and we are able to start our new and improved service that will provide tailored crisis bed support for local individuals, raise awareness, develop prevention programmes that can help stop domestic abuse happening in the first place and also focus on perpetrators and keeping family units together where we can.

“This new service will also mean that we can create new support services that we do not currently have with better services for male victims, older victims, working victims and women under 35 for example.

“We have put processes in place to ensure that any victims currently in the refuge will be supported by the service while they make decisions on the best way forward for them and their families over the coming months. However, I am clear that local funding for this vital area is being spent supporting victims of domestic abuse in Southend-on-Sea and helping to prevent it happening in the first place, and I am delighted that we will actually be increasing the budget for this area of work.”

Jennie Hubbard, Chief Executive of SOSDAP, says: “SOS Domestic Abuse Projects is delighted to have been awarded the new contract for Domestic Abuse Services. As an organisation that has worked to support victims of domestic abuse in Southend on Sea for over forty years and having worked with children, young people and their families for the past eight years through a council contract, we are proud to provide a more comprehensive approach to our local community.

“From 1 February, SOSDAP will deliver a combined community-based support and accommodation service including flexible emergency and refuge accommodation, a single point of contact and specialist helpline for women (01702 302333), unique drop in at the Dove Crisis Centre, outreach support, specialist advocacy for high risk victims and specialist support for males, BME and LGBT victims and therapeutic support and recovery programmes.

“This new contract also includes work with perpetrators for the first time and this will be delivered by the Essex Change Programme (Relate) and more preventative work with children and young people in the local community. This follows a 41% rise in reported incidents of local children being affected by domestic abuse.”

The improved service will:

Improve support for male victims who can currently only access limited community based floating support services:

Improve support for victims with older male children who have limited access to accommodation based provisions:

Improve support for older victims and those wishing to remain at home who will generally refuse refuge accommodation or could potentially be supported through other provision:

Improve support for working victims where affordability of supported housing rental charges can deter victims from taking up an accommodation placement:

Improve support for ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ victims – they are unable to access the refuge and remain particularly vulnerable due to their immigration status:

Improve support for victims with complex needs – they are currently not able to access the refuge owing to the risk associated within settings with multiple occupancy and high number of children due to their high and complex needs:

· Improve support for under-35s: single women under-35 years of age have limited access to Local Authority accessed move-on accommodation:

Support perpetrator programmes - funding of the contract has previously focused primarily on victims of abuse and associated resources required for staffing and managing refuge provision:

Develop community awareness and resilience - as over 90% of current funding supports the refuge, there is very limited fund to develop community awareness and resilience.