Report of the Cabinet Member for Community and Culture

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee had requested an update on Domestic Abuse services across Staffordshire, focusing on the impact of the pandemic. Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Staffordshire Commissioners Office (SCO) jointly commissioned Domestic Abuse (DA) services across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, with the SCO acting as lead commissioner. Services included the provision for victims, perpetrators, children and young people. The service contract for  victims services had been awarded to Victim Support, with services for perpetrators awarded to the Reducing Reoffending Partnership. Both these services were  provided under the brand name of New Era.

Members heard that the overall annual contract value for the Victims and Perpetrator provision was £2,157,000 with the County Council annual contribution being £670,490. This equated to a contribution of 31% of the value of the contract annually, with SCO contributing £1,015,483 (47%) and Stoke City Council contributed £544,997 (22%).  The Tri-Partite Agreement for both Victim and Perpetrator services commenced in October 2018 and contained an option to extend the contract for each service for a period of two years from 30th September 2020 until 30th September 2023. The decision to action this extension had been mutually agreed by all parties and the extension was now in place.  The Committee felt Staffordshire were getting good value for money from their contribution.

Since the contract began there had been 14,160 referrals/enquiries for support to the victim service across Staffordshire and Stoke, of which 62.9% (8,907) were from Staffordshire residents and Members heard details of the latest quarterly performance report (Q4 20/21). A breakdown of referrals by district for each service was also shared and Members queried why some districts had seen a more noticeable rise in referral numbers. Referrals were monitored on a quarterly basis with fluctuations in each district being fairly common. It was anticipated that districts with higher referral numbers in the last quarter were examples of this normal fluctuation, although this would be monitored.

Members had wanted to satisfy themselves that there were appropriate links between services provided for children and young people who are at risk of child exploitation and services which support victims of domestic abuse to ensure that information wasn’t missed that may lead to individuals not receiving appropriate services. The Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) Panels enabled information to be shared between services and partner agencies, enabling a joined-up approach to service delivery. New Era attended these Panels. Members heard that the Police also attended MACE Panels, with information governance arrangements in place to allow information to be shared amongst all MACE partners, enabling appropriate actions and support to be put in place.

Members had also queried the rationale behind the disparity in the number of referrals into Staffordshire’s commissioned DA services and referrals to the Police. Staffordshire had seen a 30% increase in referrals for their DA services but the Police had not seen a corresponding rise. Analysis was underway to identify the reasons for this and detail of this would be shared with the Committee in due course.

The Committee had requested detail of the impact of the C19 pandemic on DA and heard that this had been seen on both those affected by DA and those delivering services nationally, regionally and locally. During the first lockdown, New Era had seen an immediate drop in the number of referrals to services and low figures were recorded for the end of March and April 2020. Referral rates started to pick up again in May and reached the level of the previous year (i.e. 2019) by the end of May/early June. After the first lockdown was lifted, numbers of referrals increased by approximately 5% on those recorded at the same point the previous year. Following the return to school in September 2020, demand for services increased further. Initially the increase was not unusual, as referrals tend to increase at the start of school terms. However, the number of referrals has continued to increase and had now reached volumes around 30% greater than the same period last year.

The Committee shared concerns that, given the considerable increase in demand, the impact of the restrictions on service delivery and the impact of Covid-19 on staff, there were now waiting lists for both victims and perpetrator services. However, they heard that the triage process in place allocated individuals to workers based upon a robust assessment of risk, meaning that waiting was kept to a minimum for those who were assessed as higher risk.

The victim service reported an increase in the number and complexity of incoming calls to the helpline resulting in increased duration of calls and increased time spent by the Initial Response Officers on triage and outgoing contact. Due to the national restrictions, routine face-to-face service delivery largely ceased. The Perpetrator Service stopped delivering groupwork sessions (which was the usual method of delivery for the programme) and instead delivered their programmes on a 1:1 basis. This had a significant impact on the number of individuals they were able to support at one time and in turn had increased waiting times.

Members asked for details of waiting times for perpetrator services.  This information was not available at the meeting but would be shared with Members afterwards.

The Committee queried the lower Staffordshire take up of the Perpetrator programme, particularly in comparison to the higher number seen in Stoke-on-Trent.  There was further work needed to increase referral numbers, partly through cultural change, understanding the importance of addressing perpetrator behaviours to support long-term change, and partly an awareness raising of the service. It was also necessary to acknowledge that involvement in this service was voluntary and to take part in the service there was a need for perpetrators to be motivated to change their behaviours.

DA support services had significantly adapted their service delivery to ensure continuity of service and Members gave credit to staff for their flexibility and dedication throughout this extremely challenging period. Services retained their ‘front door’ to victims and their families and the perpetrator programme had been adapted appropriately. For both victim and perpetrator services, availability of support and services had been maintained throughout the pandemic, largely via remote working arrangements and online delivery, but with some face-to-face support where appropriate and safe to do so.  They also received details of the new Adult Specialist Worker provision which provided dedicated support to the whole family unit, focusing on helping and supporting parents and their children at the earliest opportunity. This new way of working had been piloted in Cannock and consideration was now being given to how it would be developed throughout the County. Members queried the funding for this and were informed this formed part of the investment in the Children’s Transformation programme.

The Committee heard that the Domestic Abuse Act had now passed both Houses of Parliament and was signed into law on 29 April 2021. There were a number of provisions within the Act, including the creation of a statutory definition of domestic abuse with a recognition that abuse can be emotional, controlling or coercive and economic abuse, as well as physical violence; establishing the role of the Office of Domestic Abuse Commissioner; creating a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in courts; prohibiting perpetrators of domestic abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in courts; and extending the controlling or coercive behaviour offence to cover post-separation abuse among other provisions.

Members wished to reassure themselves that DA services could be accessed by those who may have No Recourse to Public Funds. Officers will consult the  DA Act and will forward information to Members after the meeting.

One of the key implications of the Act for Local Authorities was the introduction of the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Duty. The Duty placed a legislative requirement on upper tier local authorities to ensure the provision of support for domestic abuse victims and their families within safe accommodation. This Duty covered a range of types of safe accommodation (including refuge accommodation, specialist safe accommodation, dispersed accommodation, sanctuary schemes, move-on accommodation and other forms of domestic abuse emergency accommodation).  Members heard that Staffordshire had been allocated £1.5 million from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) towards this duty and work was underway, under the auspices of the Domestic Abuse Commissioning & Development Board, to ensure that Staffordshire was able to meet their requirements. On questioning whether the £1.5 million was a one off payment Members were informed that this figure had been allocated to support the new safe accommodation duty. It is anticipated that we will receive funding in future years, but the amount of this funding will be outlined in the Government’s Autumn Spending Review.

Members noted that repeat offenders or victims weren’t mentioned within the report. Evidence suggested that targeting services on the small number of repeat offenders and victims would have a significant impact. An analysis of repeat offenders was currently being undertaken by Staffordshire Police, lead by Chief Superintendent Mattinson. The findings from this work would be reflected in action plans for future service provision.

RESOLVED : That:

a)     the developments in delivery of both perpetrator and victims services be supported;

b)    the range of changes to service provision as mitigation for the difficulties created by the Pandemic be welcomed and staff be congratulated on their flexible approach to overcome these issues;

c)    results of the analysis into the rationale behind the disparity in the number of referrals into Staffordshire’s commissioned DA services and referrals to the Police be shared with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

d)    learning from the analysis of data regarding repeat victims and offenders currently being undertaken by Staffordshire Police be shared with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

e)    details of waiting times for perpetrator services be shared with the Committee; and

f)     details of whether the Domestic Abuse Act addresses the needs of those with No Recourse to Public Funds be forwarded to the Committee after the meeting.