District Council commits to tackling and supporting survivors of Domestic Abuse

The District Council is seeking accreditation through the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance to make sure it is doing all it can to support anyone impacted by domestic abuse, making sure the services it provides to both the public and employees puts those impacted at the centre of everything it delivers.

This week, the District Council has approved its Domestic Abuse Policy. This policy is now out for public consultation for a period of four weeks and will be directly shared with a Tenant Engagement Board, Engaged Tenants and other key stakeholders including Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid, the commissioned provider for women, children and young people and Equation, the commissioned provider for male victims and multi-agency training.

The draft policy is available on the District Council's website here: Draft Domestic Abuse policy. The public are invited to provide their comments here: Domestic Abuse Policy Consultation.

This policy sets out the District Council’s commitment to managing, and hopefully reducing, the issue of domestic abuse in the district.  The policy sets out how it will support survivors and hold perpetrators of domestic abuse to account. It sets out its core aims, principles and values as well as what people will experience, and what support they will receive, when contacting the District Council.

The Policy explains how the District Council can support survivors and how it will work in partnership with other agencies to ensure survivors needs are met. The policy covers all residents, tenants and service users.

The District Council has a zero-tolerance approach to domestic abuse, and it will listen to survivors’ views when working with them to establish the best course of action for them and their individual needs. The District Council will also proactively raise awareness of domestic abuse in the local community to ensure it does not remain hidden.

This policy is just the start of the District Council’s journey to achieving the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) accreditation. The work required to ensure compliance with the accreditation will reach every aspect of the District Council’s services. A full review of key policies and procedures will take place to ensure that, where required, consideration is given to supporting people who have or are impacted by domestic abuse. All staff and elected members will undertake domestic abuse awareness training and for certain teams that may be more directly involved more detailed training will be provided to ensure that suitable support and signposting to appropriate agencies is undertaken.

The consultation is available and can be accessed at: Domestic Abuse Policy Consultation

The draft Domestic Abuse Policy can be viewed on the District Council website here: Draft Domestic Abuse policy

Following the four-week consultation, responses will be reviewed with any necessary amendments made to the policy before it is approved and embedded across the Council. 

Suzanne Shead, Director of Housing, Health and Wellbeing at Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “This is just the first step on a much bigger journey that we are committed to taking to make sure that domestic violence does not remain hidden.  We want our residents and tenants to know they can turn to us for support and that we will help in holding perpetrators to account.  We will listen to, hear and believe, without any judgement, any person who needs our support. No person should live in fear of domestic abuse and sadly, people are. 

“Domestic abuse takes place in so many different forms and sometimes, people don’t even know they have become a victim or are a survivor. Domestic abuse can be defined as physical abuse, sexual abuse, violent, threatening, psychological or emotional abuse, economic abuse, discriminatory abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour.  It can happen to anyone at anytime and we want to provide an environment that is safe, so incidents of domestic abuse can be discussed and all individuals provided with the personalised support they need.”

Christie Conroy, DAHA Accreditation Coordinator, said: “DAHA is seen as best practice in facilitating responses to domestic abuse, so it is a positive step that Newark and Sherwood District Council is undertaking this accreditation. Nottinghamshire is the first County in the UK to utilise a specialist domestic abuse provider to support them in this process. Local authority teams are ideally placed to identify when domestic abuse is happening early and offer support before the abuse escalates.

“We want to ensure a joined up, holistic approach to tackling domestic abuse, ensuring referral pathways are in place with partner agencies so survivors can be supported and enabled to make informed choices.  An audit of the whole council, focusing on policy, process and practice around domestic abuse is set to take place, which will include writing and reviewing policies, instilling good practice within teams and ensuring all processes are survivor-led.  This process will ensure all employees are aware of domestic abuse, understand how to support a survivor and how to hold perpetrators to account for the abuse.”

If you are a victim or survivor of domestic abuse, or you think someone else might be, please contact one of the support groups available:

For Women, Children and Young People (including young men up to age 17 years, 11 months):

1. Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid (the domestic abuse commissioned service for Newark and Sherwood, Mansfield and Bassetlaw).

Website:  www.nottswa.org

E-mail:     enquiries@nottswa.org

Phone:     01909 491330

2. Juno Women’s Aid (the domestic abuse commissioned service for Ashfield, Gedling, Broxtowe, Rushcliffe and Nottingham City)

Website:  www.junowomensaid.org.uk

E-mail:     enquiries@junowomensaid.org.uk

Phone:     0808 800 0340

3. Newark Women’s Aid (a small, independent local charity)

Website:  www.newarkwomensaid.com

E-mail:     newarkwomensaid@btconnect.com

Phone:     01636 679687

For Men, 18 years and over:

1. Equation (the domestic abuse commissioned service for Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City)

Website:           www.equation.org.uk

E-mail:               info@equation.org.uk 

Phone:               0115 960 5556

Support for Perpetrators:

1. The Your Choice Project
   This is a voluntary behavioural change programme. It is for adults who want help to stop using abusive behaviour towards a current or ex-partner or someone in their family. It is a partnership between: The Jenkins Centre, Equation, Juno Women’s Aid and Nottinghamshire Women’s Aid.

Email:                contact@yourchoiceproject.org.uk 

Phone:               0115 6950 734

2. Respect

Website:           www.respect.org.uk

Phone:               0808 802 4040