LEADERS BOARD Date 19 th March 2013 ITEM 4 Domestic Abuse Forum Author: Jo Berry Contact details: jo.berry@shropshire.gov.uk The purpose of this report: Domestic abuse and violence is the country s biggest hidden crime affecting millions of people mainly women and children. Addressing Domestic Abuse and ensuring victims get the support they need requires a strong multi-agency response. This agenda item provides an update on what is already happening in Shropshire and partners are asked to consider how they can support the work. 1.0 Domestic Abuse Hidden Crime 1.1 Domestic Abuse, both nationally and locally is significantly underreported. Those who experience domestic abuse will often keep it from family and friends and are unlikely to report abuse to public bodies. 1.2 Domestic Abuse has a devastating effect not just on victims and their children, but the wider families, neighbours and indeed the whole community. It ruins lives, breaks apart families and has an impact across generations. 1.3 Although, inroads have been made over recent years to increase protection of victims and to punish perpetrators, according to the British Crime Survey for domestic abuse figures are still disturbingly high with 1.2 million women experiencing domestic abuse last year in the UK and: 1 in 4 women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. 2 women a week are killed in the UK by their partner or ex-partner. 40% of young people have experienced domestic violence in their relationships. 1 in 5 teenage girls has been raped by a teenage boyfriend. Nearly one million children witness domestic violence in their homes every year in the UK. (Source: Home Office website October 2009 & Crime in England & Wales 2006/07 report) 2.0 Shropshire Extent of the problem 2.1 The extent and impact of domestic violence and abuse in Shropshire is most accurately shown by using national prevalence data and population data. By
P a g e 2 doing this, it is possible to estimate the numbers of people likely to be affected by domestic abuse and violence within the authority. Therefore, it is likely that around 30, 475 women in Shropshire will experience domestic violence during their lifetime and that annually over 12,000 women will have experienced some form of physical and or psychological abuse. 2.2 In terms of incidents reported to the police, police figures indicate that there were 2,352 cases in 2008-2009. More recent police figures found in the SSCB Back to Basics Review of Early Help in October 2012, reveal that between July 2011 & June 2012, there were 914 reported substantive Domestic Abuse crimes, compared to 810 for the same period in 2010-2011. And that 117 of these crimes in 2011-2012 were solved. The levels of police recorded incidents in Shropshire clearly indicate that partner organisations are still only dealing with the tip of the iceberg. 2.4 It has been researched at a national level and it is estimated that domestic violence costs the country a per capita tax of some 143 per head per population, based on costs in 2005. In Shropshire this means a financial cost of 44 million total population cost. (County population figure taken from The Draft Police & Crime Plan for West Mercia 2013-2017) 3.0 Forums in Shropshire 3.1 The Shropshire County Wide Domestic Abuse Forum (SCDAF) is a strategic group which aims to provide effective multi-agency networking on domestic violence and abuse in order to improve the safety and well being of those affected by domestic abuse. Members are key partners from across Shropshire, including Police, Probation, Health Service, specialist domestic abuse services and children services. 3.2 The County Wide Forum supports and forms links with the local Forums North, Central, South and Bridgnorth which form the operational groups for each area. And more recently, since June 2011, Shropshire has a developing and thriving Survivor s Forum which links into all the Forums and has already been effective in shaping our coordinated response to domestic abuse in Shropshire. 3.3 The aim of the Forums is for partners to work together to create a community where domestic violence and abuse is not tolerated and to reduce the impact on victims in Shropshire. In order to achieve this, the Forums assist in developing and co-ordinating services which meet the needs of women and children and male victims, which hold abusers to account. 3.4 In addition, members of the Forums work together raising awareness, through local and national campaigns, and by providing training on domestic abuse and related issues. It is clear from research that no single agency can deal with domestic abuse alone and therefore partnership working is vital in developing effective and safe services for survivors. 3.5 Through the Shropshire Domestic Abuse Strategy the Shropshire County Wide Domestic Abuse Forum aims to ensure the effective co-ordination of resources and the prevention of unnecessary duplication or gaps in service
P a g e 3 delivery. The Forum is committed to working towards: Prevention & Early Intervention, Protection and justice and support for victims of domestic abuse. 4.0 Shropshire Domestic Abuse Strategy 4.1 Since 2006, there has been a Domestic Abuse Strategy for Shropshire which is provided on behalf of the Shropshire County Wide Domestic Abuse Forum (SCDAF). The Strategy for 2012-2014 was created in consultation with the local domestic abuse forums, MARAC (Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference) members and a number of domestic abuse survivors from Shropshire and was endorsed by Cabinet in 2012. 4.2 The Action Plan for the three years is clearly laid out around our key objectives which are around raising awareness, access to early support, developing good practice and access to appropriate services. The priorities of the Shropshire County Wide Domestic Abuse Forum which are supported by the Shropshire Safer Stronger Communities Partnership are shown in ten key actions: 1. Campaigns, events and Forum website 2. Domestic Abuse Awareness Training 3. Survivor Feedback 4. Referral Pathway 5. Data Monitoring 6. IDVA service 7. Voluntary Perpetrator s Programme 8. Housing Support Services 9. Specialist Outreach Services 10. Male Victims & diverse communities 5.0 Domestic abuse services 5.1 Supporting People have over the years provided funds for housing-related Domestic Abuse support services, including the two refuges in Shropshire and the safe houses and have in the past funded resettlement workers. There was a reduction in the refuge space in Shropshire in the last year when the safe houses were decommissioned and sadly the wealth of experience and resources the project brought survivors went with it. 5.2 The two remaining refuges situated in the North and South of the county work together as a Consortium and are funded by Supporting People to continue to provide refuge and now an Outreach service to cover the whole of the county. However, the funding for this outreach service is limited and can only serve a small number of survivors. 5.4 In Shropshire, there are three specialist domestic Abuse services serving survivors and their families throughout the County: Refuge - providing refuge, outreach service, including group work support.
South Shropshire Domestic Violence Services providing refuge, outreach service, including group work support. P a g e 4 West Mercia Women s Aid providing a local helpline, an IDVA Service and group work support. 5.5 There are clearly many other agencies and organisations that play a key role in supporting victims of domestic abuse, including, the police, health services and children services, also assisting in running groups. In addition, Children Centre Services not only run the Freedom Programme and now the Recovery Toolkit, they have, for many years provided a self-help group for survivors called Chrysalis. 5.6 The training for domestic abuse has been delivered over the years by Shropshire Council s Joint Training, the Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB), and Targeted Mental Health in Schools project (TAMHS) and Domestic Abuse Service providers, as well as members and groups from the Forums. 5.7 The Shropshire County Wide Domestic Abuse and the local Forums have a website to provide people working and living in Shropshire affected by domestic abuse and professionals with valuable and up to date information. The website is www.freedomshropshire.org.uk 5.8 In addition, the Forums support the following domestic abuse services and projects: VEV Visual Evidence for Victims Approved photographs of injuries can be taken by trained support workers if victims are not ready to report incidents to the Police. The photographs can be used as evidence for a criminal prosecution or to obtain a court order to protect victims from the perpetrators. http://www.victimsupport.org.uk/help-for-victims/local-projects/vev Shropshire Sanctuary Scheme This Scheme is provided in partnership for victims of domestic abuse and through various security measures for the home, gives reassurance and added safety. Furniture Scheme The Local Forums annually provide families with furniture and other household goods through local Furniture Scheme. The Furniture Schemes reuse and recycle unwanted furniture proving low cost essential household equipment for those most in need. Group work -Freedom Programme, Recovery Toolkit, CRUSH The Freedom Programme provides awareness and is recommended that victims start with this group. The Recovery Toolkit looks at the psychological effects of domestic abuse and provides tools for women or men to move forward in their lives. The CRUSH programme is for children and young people affected by domestic abuse, whether they are victims or perpetrators. This is an awareness programme for younger people, age 11-19 years. SDVC Specialist Domestic Violence Court This grew out of years of multi-agency working to improve the criminal justice response to domestic
P a g e 5 violence related crimes. The establishment of good working relationships, consistent practice embedded in protocols and monitoring, and ensuring advocacy for all victims of domestic violence from the point of police call out onwards make the SDVC a model of best practice. MARAC Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference This is a meeting held monthly in Shrewsbury where information about high risk domestic abuse victims is shared between local partners. The high risk victims are those who are at risk of serious injury or death. In bringing various agencies and organisations together at a MARAC, a risk focused, coordinated safety plan can be drawn up to support the victim.