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Councils turning away domestic abuse victims, report finds
Some councils are turning away domestic abuse victims and their children, forcing them to sleep rough, a report from Women’s Aid has revealed.
The charity helped 264 women between January 2017 and January 2018 who had not been accepted by a council as homeless. This left some of them at risk of homelessness and from further abuse.
Of the women supported by the project, 37% approached their local council for support and over half of these women – 54% – were prevented from making a homeless application. This meant they were refused help with finding emergency accommodation.
The women who were refused help from their local council were told they were not a priority need despite having multiple vulnerabilities, others were required to provide proof they had experienced domestic abuse and some were told they had made themselves intentionally homeless. In some instances the women were told to return to the perpetrator.
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Of the women who Women’s Aid helped, 11.7% forced to sleep rough, three of which were pregnant and five women had their children with them. Almost half of the women – 46% – were forced to sofa surf, of which 65 women did so with their children.
Nearly one in ten women – 8% – gave up their search and returned to their perpetrator. One in five women – 21% – were housed in a refuge through support from a specialist caseworker.
Katie Ghose, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “Statutory agencies need to stop putting obstacles in the way of women fleeing domestic abuse and start supporting them to safety. It is no wonder that women and their children who are literally fleeing for their lives end up sleeping rough or returning to an abusive partner if they are turned away from services who should be helping them.
“Our report clearly shows that survivors need the specialist expert support provided by domestic abuse services to help them when they are most vulnerable and assist them in overcoming barriers to getting the support they need. We’re calling on the government to give survivors a cast-iron guarantee that their dangerous planned changes to how refuges will be funded are firmly off the table and that refuges will be protected. We want to work with the government to develop a sustainable funding model for all domestic abuse support services so that every woman and child can receive the support they need to help build a life free from abuse.”
