It is not surprising that recent figures produced within the Domestic Violence Report 2021: The Annual Audit by Women\u2019s Aid*, highlighted a drastic number of survivors of domestic abuse who are unable to access refuges. It was reported that 57.2% of all referrals received to refuge services using On Track** were rejected and the main reason for rejection was due to the lack of space or capacity.<\/p>\n
Research further identified that of a sample of 27,130 survivors who accessed support during 2019-2020, only 3,348 of survivors were able to access refuge services. It is evident that there is a serious problem of the number of spaces within refuges. This is also highlighted by the fact that there is a 30.1% shortfall in the number of refuge spaces compared to that recommended by the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n
As a consequence of this shortcoming, survivors are accessing community-based support; 24,334 of survivors accessed community-based support services within 2019\/2020. Community-based support includes outreach, floating support and advocacy (IDVA services). This has not gone un-noticed. There has been a joint call from commissioners to the Government highlighting this issue and the need for greater support for community-based services.<\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Commissioner, the Victims\u2019 Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner have called for the Government to include statutory provisions for local authorities to fund community-based services. The joint call recognises that there has been a shift from refuges to community-based services. In light of this, the Commissioners\u2019 call for this to be identified within the Domestic Violence Bill; which is currently at the committee stage of the House of Lords. They claim that if the Bill does not address this, it will create a two-tier system, which would leave the survivors who are most vulnerable without appropriate support.<\/p>\n
Within a system which already lacks protection for marginalised women, statutory provisions must be included to ensure inclusivity for all women and children can access support they need.<\/p>\n
Within Goodman Ray we recognise and understand the importance of community-based support. We have a dedicated domestic abuse team which works closely with organisations and charities, who support survivors of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nicole Mann<\/p>\n
\u0905\u0930\u094d\u0927\u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u092f\u093f\u0915<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
* Women\u2019s Aid. (2021) The Domestic Abuse Report 2021: The Annual Audit, Bristol: Women\u2019s Aid.<\/p>\n
* *On Track is the Women\u2019s Aid case management and outcomes monitoring database. It is used by over 60 local service providers throughout England.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Domestic Violence: the need for community-based support It is not surprising that recent figures produced…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-domestic-violence"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n