Domestic Abuse Support in Safe Accommodation Strategy 2021 to 2024

The Duty

• Assess the need for support and prepare a strategy to provide support for survivors of domestic abuse who need to reside in safe accommodation
• Appoint a Multi-Agency Domestic Abuse Partnership Board
• Prepare and publish a strategy for the provision of such support having regard to the needs assessment
• Give effect to the strategy through commissioning and decommissioning decisions
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy
• Report back annually to Central Government

Vision

This strategy supports the new duty on relevant local authorities introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 with the aim of ensuring all survivors of domestic abuse have access to the right support within safe accommodation when they need it.

Evidence Based Approach

• A full local needs assessment will be conducted at a minimum of every 3 years, with a refresh being undertaken annually to ensure any change in demand or support requirements are captured
• We will seek to understand the barriers that prevent survivors with diverse needs from accessing support within safe accommodation in Surrey
• The needs assessment will consider the need for support and services for survivors within Surrey and for those whose original residence is located out of the area
• The needs assessment will use the expertise and knowledge of local specialist domestic abuse services to identify and understand the level and types of need, including the needs of children, as well as listening to the voices of survivors
• The needs assessment will assess the needs for support within safe accommodation, alongside the need for wider community based domestic abuse services
• Utilising the expertise and knowledge of the local partnership board (Domestic Abuse Executive) we will take steps to understand the barriers that prevent survivors with certain characteristics and or multiple complex needs, from accessing and using support in relevant accommodation
• This strategy will be delivered with the support of the wider Surrey Against Domestic Abuse Partnership, including, but not limited to, District and Borough Councils, Specialist Domestic Abuse service providers, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Housing and Health

Our Priorities

1. Explore with Surrey's domestic abuse refuge and outreach providers, opportunities to further enhance the support available to survivors and their children that reside in safe accommodation
2. Explore opportunities for more diverse refuge provision that will be made available to anyone that needs it, particularly men/transgender/lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer (LGBTQ+) survivors
3. Explore opportunities for step down accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse to allow a phased approach to moving from refuge to fully independent living
4. Establish a 'gold standard' sanctuary scheme which is consistent across Surrey and accessible to all who need it to ensure more survivors and their children can remain safe in their own home

Strategic Framework

• Safe Accommodation Strategy: Overall strategy for delivering support to survivors and their children who need to reside in safe accommodation across Surrey
• Governance and Oversight: Effective governance and contract oversight arrangements developed via the Domestic Abuse Executive Board
• Multi-Agency Training: Enhanced multi-agency domestic abuse training will be a factor across all four priorities; Look to best practice for enhanced training models across the housing and safe accommodation sector
• Surrey Against Domestic Abuse Multi-Agency Strategy: Surrey's Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Strategy will be incorporated into the wider Surrey Against Domestic Abuse Strategy when it is refreshed in 2023
• Perpetrator Strategy: Working with partners to improve our management of perpetrators and utilising all tools and powers introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 is vital to helping more survivors to remain safe in their own homes

Equality of Access

• Surrey County Council is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. Tackling inequality so no-one is left behind is our guiding principle
• Our vision is for every adult and child experiencing domestic abuse to be seen, safe, heard and free from the harm caused by perpetrator behaviour
• We know there can be barriers to accessing domestic abuse support and in Surrey we want to ensure that the appropriate support is available to all survivors of domestic abuse
• One of the priorities of this strategy is to explore opportunities for more diverse refuge provision that will be made available to anyone that needs it, particularly men/transgender/LGBTQ+ survivors
• Where necessary, we will explore opportunities to broaden refuge provision in Surrey to best meet the needs of survivors and in particular those with relevant protected characteristics
• We know that certain groups are under-represented in accessing support through Surrey based domestic abuse services, both outreach and refuge, including male and LGBTQ+ Survivors, we intend to better understand barriers to access and work with survivors to remove these barriers wherever possible

How will we know we are making a difference?

Outcomes	Indicators
Survivors and their children that need to reside in safe accommodation are provided the right support to enable them to rebuild their lives free from violence and fear	Programme of engagement (to be developed)
Any survivor of Domestic Abuse is able to access the right support in safe accommodation, regardless of gender or sexuality	New refuge provision is available for male survivors for domestic abuse
Survivors are provided with short term accommodation, with wrap around support, to prepare them for the next move to fully independent living	Move on accommodation is available for survivors of DA and their families Programme of engagement – to be developed – how comfortable are you about independent living? What are providers doing to prepare survivors for independent living?
Any survivor of Domestic Abuse that wishes to remain in their own home, is supported to do so via Sanctuary and wrap around support	Local people stay local

Why is is important to us?

Data source	Findings
Crime	5,380 domestic abuse crimes recorded by Surrey Police during Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 2020/21 According to the Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour Based Violence Risk Assessment (DASH): 11% were high risk, 29% Medium and 58% Standard with only 2% showing no risk Types of crime: 28% common assault, 25% other wounding 58% intimate partner relationship between the survivor and the perpetrator
Perpetrators	9,575 domestic abuse offenders/suspects recorded by Surrey Police during Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 2020/21 73% were male 71% were white 70% under the age of 45 3,610 repeat offenders between October 2019 and September 2020 1,042 serial perpetrators (2 or more survivors in a 3 year period) between November 2019 – October 2020
National Probation Service	180 Offenders with domestic abuse registered during April 2020 and January 2021 97% were male 89% were white – British/Irish/Other
Community Rehabilitation Centre	316 Offenders with domestic abuse registered during April 2020 and December 2020. The majority of offenders were aged between 25 and 49 96% were male 77% predominantly white (British/other) ethnicity Domestic abuse offences recorded by Surrey Police (during Quarter 1 & Quarter 2 2020/21) 748 resulted in criminal justice outcomes, including conditional cautions, charged, community resolution
Family Safeguarding Model	Between 01 April 2020-18 Feb 2021 There have been 200 domestic abuse related referrals into the Family Safeguarding Model across Surrey 73 families already have interventions in progress
Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC)	1,314 cases were discussed at the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) between April 2019 and March 2020 in Surrey There were 1,891 children in the household 29% were repeat cases 82% of referrals were through the police 82.8% were female, 2.3% from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, 2.6% had a disability and 0.6% LGBTQ+
Community Outreach Services	7,349 referrals were made into domestic abuse outreach during 2020/21 equating to 4,608 individuals The top three referrers were Police, MARAC, and self-referral Where data was known/disclosed: 88.2% of service users were female 80.7% where white Where age group was stated 29.4% were aged 25-34 years and 28.1% were aged 35-44 years Only 1.5% were not heterosexual The highest recorded relationship status between the perpetrator and victim was current or ex intimate partner in 21.4% and 35% of disclosures, respectively. 141 disclosed being pregnant with 2,257 service users reported having a child aged <16 years 1,937 onwards referrals were recorded; 4% were to sanctuary schemes and 8% were to housing
Refuge	In 2020/21 Surrey's refuge capacity increased by 13 spaces to 47 and will increase by a further 11 spaces in 21/22 to 58 The way in which referrals are made to refuges it is difficult to track the number of women turned away. Between Jan and Nov 2020, Salvation Army Housing Association (SAHA) received 96 referrals for a total of 18 spaces, an average of 5.3 referrals per space Reigate & Banstead Women's Aid received an average of 3.83 referrals for every one family room space in 2019/20 and an average of 9.76 referrals for every family room in 2020/21
Adult Safeguarding Concerns	Adult safeguarding concerns where domestic abuse is identified as a factor has been increasing over time since Jan 2019 Between June 2020 to Sep 2021, there have been over 150 adult safeguarding concerns recorded each month, with the exception of August 2021 (138) An average of 19% (May 2020 – Sep 2021) of adult safeguarding concerns recorded a parent of a child under 18 years, with August observing the highest at 28% (2020 and 2021) August 2020 recorded the highest proportion of adult safeguarding concerns where there was an associated risk to a child (29%)
Male survivors	In 2020/21 9.3% (416) of those using the domestic abuse outreach service were male where gender was known (4,480) 7% of cases discussed at MARAC involved a male victim in 20219/20 (95 of 1,208 cases) Between April and September 2020/21, of the 10,565 victims recorded via Police crimes 3,079 (29.14%) were cis male and 2 (0.02%) were trans male 22% of adult safeguarding concerns where domestic abuse was identified involved a male